


Wingfeather Falalalalls

by Mozart_the_Meerkitten



Series: Wingfeather Falls Crossover [5]
Category: Gravity Falls, The Wingfeather Saga - Andrew Peterson
Genre: Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, Dragons, Family Fluff, First Christmas, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, I still don't know what's going on, Sledding, Snowball Fight, but there were too many possibilities to pass this up, or more accurately, snowball war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:55:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 28,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27772633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mozart_the_Meerkitten/pseuds/Mozart_the_Meerkitten
Summary: Upon learning that the Wingfeathers have never heard of Christmas, Mabel Pines makes it her personal mission to make sure they have the best first Christmas ever. Sledding, Snowball Wars, decorating and shenanigans ensue.A Wingfeather Falls Christmas special.
Relationships: Dipper Pines & Mabel Pines, Janner Wingfeather & Kalmar Wingfeather & Leeli Wingfeather, The Wingfeather and Pines families
Series: Wingfeather Falls Crossover [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1966000
Kudos: 12





	1. Christmas on Spring Break

**Author's Note:**

> It's important to note that, in order to have Janner, Mabel and Dipper all be turning 14 at around the same time I started Wingfeather Falls in February in Aerwiar time and June in Earth time. So it's currently about April for Dipper and Mabel but December for the Wingfeathers. The kids address this, I just wanted to make an official note of it (because I like knowing stuff like that when I read stories).

Mabel and Dipper Pines stepped through the small portal into the courtyard of Castle Rysen and immediately started shivering.

“Jeeze, why is there still so much snow here?” said Dipper, wrapping his arms around himself.  
“Good thing I packed extra sweaters!” said Mabel cheerfully. “And wasn’t there something about time being different last time we were here?”  
Dipper blinked. “Oh yeah! The first time we were here was the beginning of spring for them and the beginning of summer for us, so it must still be winter here.”  
“There’s the sciency explanation I was looking for!” grinned Mabel. “Now c’mon, let’s go inside before we freeze!”

The twins hurried up to a small side door in the castle and went inside. They trotted through the surprisingly warm hallway towards their friends rooms.  
“Do they have heating here?” asked Dipper, frowning. “Like, heating beyond fireplaces? It’s gotta be below zero outside but it just feels… normal in here. Like, I didn’t expect a castle to be this warm, I always thought they were drafty.”  
“Who knows. This is a different world, remember?” said Mabel, thoroughly unconcerned. “Do you think they missed us?”  
“I-I mean probably,” Dipper frowned. “We’ve only seen them a few times since school started back up.”

They wouldn’t even be there now, Dipper knew, but their parents had let them go back to visit Gravity Falls on their spring break. This was partially because Stan and Ford were also staying in Gravity Falls at the moment. They hadn’t expected the younger twins to come over spring break, but Ford had admitted that they had been planning to stay through the summer in order to see Dipper and Mabel.

It was only their second day of break and Dipper had barely gotten to talk to his uncles before Mabel insisted they go check on the Wingfeathers. And now here they were, wandering through Castle Rysen.

As they got closer to their friends’ rooms they started to hear music and singing wafting through the air. Mabel quickened her pace and soon she was dashing down the hallway with Dipper chasing after her.

Mabel skidded to a stop outside a partially open doorway and peeked inside. Dipper peered over her head and found himself grinning at what he saw inside.

They were looking into what was very obviously a music room, with chairs and stands and instruments everywhere. In the middle of the room were Leeli Wingfeather, playing her whistleharp, Fiddleford McGucket, playing his banjo, and Artham Wingfeather, singing.

When the song ended Mabel shot into the room, clapping furiously.  
“Encore, encore!” she called. “That was fantastic!”

Leeli gasped in delight and hopped over to her, throwing her arms around the other girl. “Mabel!”  
Mabel, equally delighted, hugged her back. “Leeli!”  
“Well,” said Artham, glancing at Fiddleford. “We have children coming out of the woodwork now.”  
Fiddleford cackled. “At least its ones we know!”  
Artham nodded. “True,” he glanced at the door to the music room. “Hello, Dipper!”  
“Hey,” Dipper walked inside after his sister and looked around. “You guys did sound really good.”  
“We’re making a band!” said Leeli cheerfully.  
“A band!” Mabel squealed. “I’m coming to _all_ your concerts.”

“Hey, what’s going on in here?”

The children turned to see Kalmar and Janner walk into the room. Kalmar’s face lit up as soon as he saw the twins.

“Mabel! Dipper!” he grinned. “Where have you two been?!”  
“School,” said Dipper with a sigh.  
“Ah,” said Kalmar. “And your school is the boring kind. They don’t even let you punch people.”  
Janner snorted. “That’s not exactly a bad thing, Kal.”  
“Ha, yeah, I’m, I’m kind of glad they don’t allow that,” said Dipper. “Um, anyways, how have you guys been?”  
“Well the winter’s been a lot colder than last year,” said Janner.  
“Yeah, I noticed. I was wondering though, why is the castle so warm? I always thought castles were cold and drafty but it just feels like, well, a house in here,” said Dipper.

Kalmar, who had been looking at a picture Mabel had given him, suddenly jerked his head up and dashed over to Fiddleford. “It’s because of Fidds!” he said, grinning widely as he wrapped an arm around the man’s shoulders. “He made a heating system for the castle!”

Fiddleford’s face turned bright red and he ducked his head. “Aw, it ain’t nothin’ much.”  
“Wow,” said Dipper. “That’s really impressive McGu-Fiddleford.”  
“He’s done lots of great things for the castle,” said Kalmar, proudly.  
“You helped, y’little rascal,” said Fiddleford, reaching up to ruffle Kalmar’s hair.  
“Wait until you see the statues we built!” said Kal, beaming. “They’re robots!”  
“One of them is my old dog, Nugget,” Leeli told Mabel, then she gasped. “You can finally see him! He was so big!”  
Mabel looked at her with wide eyes. “Was he the one that was as big as a horse?”  
“Mhmm!” Leeli grinned.  
“Wow,” said Mabel, shaking her head. “Dogs and snow, it’s like Christmas around here!”

The Wingfeathers stared at her in confusion.

“Christmas?” said Kalmar, uncertainly. “What’s Christmas?”

Mabel’s mouth fell open. “YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT CHRISTMAS?!?!”  
“Um, no,” said Kalmar, frowning.  
“None of you?!” gasped Mabel, looking frantically at each of them.  
“Nope,” said Leeli.  
“I regret to say I have not,” said Artham, looking curious.  
“Is it a tradition in your world?” asked Janner.  
“IT’S AN INTERNATIONAL HOLIDAY!” Mabel practically screeched. Dipper winced. “HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW ABOUT IT?!” she suddenly rounded on Fiddleford. “Why didn’t _you_ tell them about it?!”  
Fiddleford blinked. “Well, I mean, I ain’t done Christmas for a long time, little missy. I wouldn’t be no good at explainin’ it.”  
“Wait, why haven’t you done it for a long time?” Kalmar asked.  
“Well, didn’t have nobody to celebrate it with,” said Fiddleford, looking down and wringing his hands together. “It’s kinda somethin’ y’do with people, an, well, I,” he shrugged.

A very determined expression came onto Kalmar’s face and he looked at Mabel. “Alright. What is Christmas and how do we do it?”  
Mabel took a deep breath. “Well, Christmas is a holiday in our world that is very important and you have to prepare for it for several weeks and- wait, what month is it?”  
“Their months aren’t the same as ours, Mabel,” said Dipper, remembering a discussion he’d had with Janner a few visits ago.  
“Oh, well,” Mabel looked frustrated.  
Fiddleford was counting on his fingers. “It’s about the right time for Christmas,” he said. “It’s gotta be a week or two into December.”  
“Okay. Okay, we can do this,” said Mabel, starting to pace. “That means there’s about two weeks until Christmas.”  
“But what do you do at Christmas?” asked Leeli.  
“All sorts of things!” said Mabel, throwing her arms out. “You go ice skating and have snowball fights and decorate a Christmas tree and-”  
“And that’s all before Christmas day,” added Dipper. “But actually you can do that any time in winter.”  
“Yeah, we do all that,” agreed Kalmar. “Except decorating a Christmas tree. What does that mean?”  
“Well,” said Mabel. “You have to get a pine tree-” Dipper winced slightly and she backtracked. “Er, I mean, an evergreen tree. A tree with needles. And then you have to decorate it with lights and ornaments and paper crafts and _glitter_.”  
“And on Christmas day you get your family together and have dinner-” Dipper began.  
“And open presents!” Mabel bounced. “The presents are _very important_.”  
“Where do you get the presents?” asked Janner.  
“From each other, of course!” said Mabel. “You buy and make each other gifts and then wrap them up in pretty, sparkly paper and give them to each other!”  
“Huh,” said Kalmar. “It sounds pretty neat. And, I mean, who wouldn’t want a day to just get presents and eat food?”  
“Right?!” Mabel punched his shoulder. “Oooh and you can decorate the castle!”  
“Decorate the _castle_?” said Janner, raising an eyebrow. “With what?”  
“Lights and tinsel and wreaths and garlands!” Mabel spun around. “It’ll be glorious!”  
“Mabel, how are they supposed to decorate the castle with lights if they don’t have electrical outlets?” asked Dipper. “And where are they even supposed to get decorations?!”  
Mabel deflated slightly. “Oh yeah. I forgot there’s no electricity here.”  
“Well there could be.”

They all turned to look at Fiddleford. He shrugged. “Or I could make lights that’re solar powered!” he grinned.

“Alright!” said Kal, punching the air. “Then it’s settled. We’re doing Christmas. Mabel is the official Christmas consultant. Dipper, you can be assistant consultant, but if you have something serious to say then tell Janner, not me. I’m going to help Mabel cover the castle in glitter. Fiddleford is the official Christmas inventor. Any questions?”

Suddenly, Mabel gasped. “I ALMOST FORGOT!” she ran over and grabbed Leeli by the shoulders. Leeli did not seem concerned. Mabel leaned her face very close to Leeli’s and whispered loudly, “Christmas Carols.”  
Leeli looked amused. “What does that mean?”  
“It means singing,” said Mabel seriously. “Lots of singing. Singing to everyone all over the whole island.”  
Leeli’s eyes widened. “Oh,” she whispered. Then she grinned deviously. “ _Oh._ ”

“Christmas here we come!” shouted Kalmar.


	2. A Christmas Break In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Stan tells Janner he would make a good burglar.

Janner looked around the trunk of a tree, then turned behind him and nodded at Kalmar. The two boys moved silently towards their target, camouflaged by their black Durgan uniforms. 

A little ways behind them in the woods, Mabel and Dipper watched their friends curiously as they used the shadows in the clearing to hide from prying eyes. The brothers reached their destination and snuck glances in through the windows of the house, then waved for Dipper and Mabel to follow them.

The house was, of course, the Mystery Shack and the children were, of course, about to rob it.

Dipper and Mabel slipped up beside Janner and Kalmar, tucking themselves into the shadows of the porch deck.  
“Alright, what’s our move?” Dipper whispered.  
“Stan is in the living room,” Janner reported. “And your friend, the one with the hat and suit, what was his name?”  
“Soos,” said Mabel, grinning.  
“He’s in the gift shop,” said Janner. “Along with the red-headed girl.”  
“Wendy,” said Dipper, quietly.  
“No sign of Ford yet,” Kalmar added.  
“Maybe he’s in the basement,” said Dipper. “We should be able to sneak in pretty easily then. If Stan notices us then Mabel it’s your job to distract him.”  
“Rodger that,” said Mabel, trying to look serious despite grinning enormously.  
“Alright, let’s do this,” said Dipper, his voice quivering with excitement.

The four children slipped up onto the porch and through the door; Janner and Kalmar silently, Dipper and Mabel not quite as silently. Inside Dipper and Mabel took the lead and Janner and Kal followed them, sticking close to their shadows.

Stan paid them no heed- they weren’t even sure he noticed them as they snuck past. They could hear Soos and Wendy talking, but they stayed in the gift shop, well out of the way. Ford was still nowhere to be seen.

The four children hurried along to a storage room on the second floor. Now safely out of earshot, Mabel flung open the door and said in a loud whisper, “Gaze in awe upon the decorations of Christmas!”

Janner and Kalmar peered inside and their eyes widened. Totes and boxes were shoved haphazardly inside and strings of tangled Christmas lights littered every surface. Several wreaths lay scattered on the floor, along with stockings and random colorful plastic ornaments. In the corner stood an unlit neon sign that proclaimed “CHRISTMAS GIFTS” with a cardboard addition attached to it that said, “MYSTERIOUS?” in Stan’s handwriting.

“We found this our first year here,” said Dipper. “After we kept finding hidden rooms in the Shack we decided to check every door to see if there was some new mystery behind it.”  
“How are we supposed to get this out of here without anyone noticing?” Janner asked, raising an eyebrow. “I thought there’d only be two or three boxes.”  
Mabel shrugged. “I may have under exaggerated. But it’s fine! We can just push them out the window and onto the roof.”  
“And then, what, throw them off the roof?” said Janner, his eyebrow rising higher.  
“It’ll be fiiiiine,” Mabel waved a hand.  
“We could use the light strings to make a carrying harness,” suggested Kal. “We don’t really need lights anyway, since Fidds is making us some.”  
“We should still probably try to avoid breaking the lights though,” said Dipper, quickly. “I’d rather not have to explain that to grunkle Stan.”  
“He’d only complain about buying new ones for a couple of years,” said Mabel with a shrug. “No biggie.”  
“A harness could work,” said Janner. “I guess we could give it a shot.”  
“Great!” Kal grinned. “Once we get it made Mabel and I will take the boxes to the roof and lower them down and Janner, you and Dipper can take them back to the wagon.” They had brought a wagon with them from Anniera to load their supplies into so that they could better be transported through a portal.

Soon the children had constructed a harness for the totes and were busily transporting them to the roof and lowering them to the ground below.

They had cleared out about half of the storage room and Kalmar was considering taking the neon sign with them when someone behind him who was definitely not his brother, Dipper or Mabel cleared their throat and spoke in a disapproving voice.

“ _What_ is going on here?”

Kalmar whipped around and found himself staring at the surprised and confused expression of Ford Pines. He glanced quickly over at Mabel, who was looking shocked and slightly uncertain, then back at Ford.

“Er, hi Ford,” said Kalmar. “Um, I guess we’re borrowing your Christmas decorations.”  
Ford blinked at him. “For what purpose?”  
Mabel had recovered from her surprise and sprang into action. “Wellll you see, grunkle Ford, the Wingfeathers have never heard of Christmas! And so I have to teach them about it! And for that we need Christmas decorations!”  
Ford stared at her. “Mabel, it’s April.”  
“In _your_ world it’s April,” said Kalmar. “In _our_ world it’s winter. Fidds says it’s what you would call December.”  
“Fidds- oh you, you mean Fiddleford,” Ford frowned. “Goodness, I forgot he was living with you. I haven’t heard him called that since we worked together.”  
“He’s making us lights,” said Kal, proudly. “But we’re using yours to lower boxes down off the roof.”  
“Er, yes, I noticed,” said Ford.  
“But you see how important this is, right grunkle Ford?” said Mabel, walking over to him and clutching the front of his shirt, staring up at him with a pleading expression.  
“Alright, alright, yes, yes, fine, you can borrow the Christmas decorations,” said Ford, trying to sound gruff in spite of his smile.

Mabel squealed. “Thank you, grunkle Ford!” she hugged him.  
“I suppose we ought to make sure Stanley knows,” said Ford. “He was going out to talk to your brothers.”

****

Janner nearly dropped the box he was holding when a voice suddenly bellowed. “WHAT’S GOING ON OUT HERE?!”

Janner and Dipper jumped. Stan was standing on the porch, looking disapproving. Janner sighed. Of course this operation wasn’t destined to go smoothly.

_‘This is what we get for stealing,’_ he thought, setting down his box. _‘Or, “borrowing without asking” as Mabel put it.’_

“Uhhh, grunkle Stan! This isn’t what it looks like,” said Dipper.  
“Well good, because it looks like I’m getting robbed by my own nephew!” said Stan, folding his arms.  
Dipper floundered and Janner sighed.  
“We’re not exactly robbing you,” said Janner. “Just borrowing some stuff so we can decorate castle Rysen.”  
Stan blinked. “Why are you decorating a castle with Christmas decorations in _April_?”  
“Because where they live it’s December,” said Dipper. “And they’ve never had Christmas before so Mabel thought it’d be a fun idea to, y’know, show them what Christmas was like,” Dipper shrugged.  
Stan paused, then threw his arms out. “Well why didn’t you just say so?! I haven’t used that stuff in ages anyway. Heck, if you’ve got any gold I’ll sell it to you-”  
“Grunkle Stan!”  
“What? Where they live they’ve got gold, right kid?” he looked at Janner. “And they live in a castle! They’ve got lots of money!”  
“We’ll see how the whole Christmas thing goes first,” said Janner, looking at Stan skeptically.  
“Anyway, for not being professional crooks, you kids got a pretty good operation going on here,” said Stan, coming out to gaze at the rope-light harness system. “And you snuck into the house pretty good too, I didn’t even know you were here, kid,” he ruffled Janner’s hair. “’Course I knew Dipper and Mabel were back, but they ain’t quite as stealthy. You could be a great burglar if you wanted.”  
“Um, thanks?” said Janner, discreetly scooting away. “But looking after Kal is a full time job.”  
“Eh, I get that,” Stan shrugged. “Brothers, always getting themselves into trouble, amirite?” he glanced down at Dipper pointedly.  
“Oh like you’ve never gotten into trouble, grunkle Stan,” Dipper rolled his eyes.

“Alright, well, speaking of brothers, we’d better go find mine. He was going up to see where Mabel went,” said Stan.  
“And Kal, he’s with her too,” said Janner.  
Stan stared at him. “You _both_ snuck in under my nose? Geeze kid, either you’re way better at this than I thought or I’m losing my touch.”  
“Well, to be perfectly fair,” said Janner, keeping his face carefully neutral. “You do have a very big nose.”

Stan stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing and slapped him on the back. Janner stumbled, he was never going to get used to people doing that.  
“Dipper, I’m glad you finally found yourself a decent friend,” said Stan, still laughing. “This guy!” he waved a hand at Janner.  
Dipper was laughing too and he grinned at Janner. “Yeah, he’s a pretty good friend.”  
Janner ducked his head. “Thanks,” he mumbled. “Now c’mon, we’d better go find all our siblings before they set the house on fire or something.”  
  



	3. Deck the Halls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which the children decorate and reminisce.
> 
> I proofread none of this and wrote it all in one go. I hope you enjoy. xD

“Okay,” said Mabel, solemnly. “Now that we have decorations we must Deck the Halls.”  
“Do what?” asked Janner, frowning.  
“She means decorate,” said Dipper. “It’s also a song, Deck the Halls.”  
“Oooh, I want to learn that one too!” said Leeli, grinning. She glanced over. “Fiddleford, do you know any Christmas songs?”  
“Er, I remember a few,” said Fiddleford, ducking his head.  
“So how do we deck the halls?” asked Kalmar, who was practically bouncing with excitement.  
“A fantastic question!” said Mabel. “First, you cover all the windowsills and ledges and bannisters and the whole outside of the castle with garland and lights. Then you hang ornaments on all that. And a Christmas tree! Have we figured out how to get a Christmas tree yet?”  
“Working on it,” said Kal. “There’s no evergreen trees on Anniera, so we’re going to have to go to the Hollows for that.”  
“Well, that’s okay, there’s a lot of castle to decorate in the meantime,” said Mabel, not the least bit put off. “Now, the easiest way to do this would be to assign groups of people to decorate certain places and things. Soooo,” she clasped her hands together. “Who wants to go where and do what?”

There was a pause, then Kalmar jumped in the air and shouted, “I’m decorating the ballroom and the workshop!”  
“Oh, I so want to decorate a ballroom,” said Mabel, her eyes shining. “I’m going with Kalmar!”  
“Don’t put anythin’ in the workshop that’s gonna set fire,” said Fiddleford.  
“I’ll do my best,” grinned Kal. “But everything in there gets set on fire anyway.”  
“True, but best not to add to it,” said Fiddleford.  
“I’m decorating the library,” said Janner.  
“I’ll come with you,” said Dipper.  
“That means Sara and I get to go together,” said Leeli, grinning. “I think we should decorate the music room.”  
Sara nodded. “And the sitting room.”

Artham glanced at Fiddleford. “Want to climb around the castle walls with me and hang the lights you made?”  
Fiddleford grinned. “Sure!”

“Alright, people!” Mabel clapped her hands. “Let’s get decorating!”

****

“So how worried should we be that this stuff is actually going to set the castle on fire?”  
Janner looked over at Dipper from where he was fastening a string of lights to the wall. “Does this stuff pose a fire hazard?”  
“Well, it _can_ ,” said Dipper. “I know you guys said your castle already burnt down once, so.”  
Janner chuckled. “Trust me, the castle won’t burn down again.”  
“How do you know?” Dipper asked, tacking a garland around the edges of a bookshelf.  
“Fiddleford fireproofed the castle,” said Janner, grinning.  
Dipper blinked and looked over at him. “What? How?”  
“He made pipes that run underground and come up through the castle at different points,” said Janner. “If the castle gets too hot they bring water up from the Dark Sea and spray it everywhere until the fire’s put out. He even took the bookshelves into account and they have covers that come over them so the books aren’t damaged by fire or water.” Janner grinned.  
“Wow,” Dipper shook his head. “He’s been busy. Glad to see he’s using his inventing powers for good though.”  
Janner raised an eyebrow. “He’s used them for evil?”  
Dipper shrugged. “I mean, he did build a giant robot for our arch nemesis one time. And one time he built a lake monster and chased us around with it.”  
“Huh. Don’t tell Kal about the lake monster, he’ll help Fidds make a new one,” said Janner. “Who was your arch nemesis?”  
“A kid named Gideon Gleeful. We don’t hate each other now, but he tried to kill us a few times and kept kidnapping Mabel for a while because he wanted her to be his girlfriend.”  
“Yeesh,” Janner climbed down his stepladder and shook his head. “That’s pretty terrible.”  
“Yeah. But he did help us beat Bill,” said Dipper, finishing tacking the garland. “So he turned out okay, I guess. He still sends Mabel creepy letters sometimes.”  
“When we went to school in the Hollows there were kids who harassed us,” said Janner. “Their leader was named Grigory Bunge. He wouldn’t stop taunting Kal because he looked like a Fang, and it was going to get Kal expelled or worse, killed. So one day I punched him and told him not to mess with me and my siblings anymore.”  
“Niiice,” said Dipper, nodding, his eyes wide. “I punched Gideon when he tried to take Mabel away in his giant robot.”  
“Nice,” Janner grinned. He turned and stepped back, looking at the library that was now covered in lights, garlands and ornaments. “Want to go see if our siblings have set anything on fire yet?”  
“Sounds fun,” Dipper grinned back at him.

****

“Grapping hooooook!”

Mabel’s hook caught on the chandelier hanging from the ceiling and she shot up to it. Kalmar watched, eyes wide.

“I gotta get one of those,” he whispered, as Mabel waved down to him.

Then an idea came to him. With a shout of, “I’ll be right back, Mabel!” he shot out and ran to his room as fast as he could (which was very fast). He grabbed his bow and arrows and a coil of rope out of his wardrobe and dashed back to the ballroom.

Kalmar tied the rope around one of his arrows and aimed at the rafters in the ceiling. He shot and the arrow stuck fast, even when he tugged hard on the rope. Grinning, Kal scurried up it and scrambled onto the beam.

“Hey Mabel!” he shouted. The girl jerked her head up from where she was dangling off the chandelier, covering it with little round ornaments.  
Mabel gaped at him. “How did you get up here?!”  
Kalmar smirked. “I may not have a grappling hook yet, but I am an awfully good shot with a bow.”  
Mabel looked down at the rope hanging from the arrow in the beam. A wide grin came over her face. “Well then. I’ve got an idea.”

A few moments later, Kalmar was scrambling down the rope, then back up again, toting his bow, arrows and several strings of lights. Mabel had gotten over to his beam and was bouncing so much Kal worried she’d fall off.

Kal tied one end of a string of lights around an arrow and knocked it, aiming for the next beam over. He let go the string and the lights sailed away. The arrow landed with a dull thud in the beam.  
“Now shoot the other end at that one,” Mabel pointed to a beam in the opposite direction.  
Kalmar tilted his head, then nodded. “’Kay.”  
He shot again. The lights settled, strung between the two beams and draped over the one in the middle. They sagged slightly in the air, and Kal wondered if they could tighten them. Then Mabel let out a squeal and he looked over to see her bouncing.

“Don’t fall,” he said, grinning.  
“Oh you’d catch me,” Mabel waved a hand dismissively.  
“I’m not uncle Artham, Mabel, I can’t fly.”  
“You’d do one of your arrow and rope tricks, like Robin Hood,” she said confidently.  
Kalmar tilted his head. “Who’s Robin Hood?”  
Mabel gaped at him then shook her head. “When Christmas is over there is a LOT I need to show you guys. In the meantime though,” she rubbed her hands together, grabbed a string of lights in one hand and shot her grappling hook with the other. “LAST ONE TO FINISH STRINGING LIGHTS HAS TO GIVE UP DESERT TO THE OTHER ONE!” she shrieked as she sailed away.  
“OH YOU’RE ON!” Kal yelled, already knocking another arrow.

****

Leeli hummed cheerfully as she hung a wreath off the door of the music room. Inside she and Sara had wrapped all the music stands and chairs in ribbons and what Mabel called tinsel. Leeli was beginning to think that they should simply leave the room decorated all year round. It made everything so much more bright and cheerful and she loved it.

“Leeli! Look!” Sara came over with some of the bright red and gold ribbons in her hair.  
Leeli giggled. “I love it.”  
“Want me to do yours?” Sara asked, holding up strings of green and gold ribbons.  
“Yes please!”  
“I bet we could braid tinsel in with them too,” said Sara thoughtfully.  
“Do it,” whispered Leeli.  
“Okay,” Sara grinned. “Then you have to do it for me.”  
“Of course,” agreed Leeli.

They had just finished braiding the ribbons and tinsel into each other’s hair when there was a knock and Dipper and Janner poked their heads inside.

“Hey, we’re on our way to see if Mabel and Kal burned down the ballroom, wanna come?” asked Dipper.  
“Sure,” said Sara, grinning. Leeli hopped up with her and looked up at the boys…

Only to see Janner’s stunned expression fixed on Sara.  
Leeli bit back a grin and watched as Sara walked up to him. She paused beside him, her head tilted so that he could very clearly see her hair.

“H-hi Sara,” said Janner, eyes wide.  
Sara grinned. “Hi Janner.”  
“I, I like your hair,” he stammered.  
“Thanks,” her grin widened, and she strode past, her head held high. Janner stared after her for a moment, then followed a little hesitantly.

“Wow,” Dipper shook his head. “Glad I’m not the only one who struggles to flirt with girls.”  
Leeli giggled. “Janner loves Sara a _lot_ ,” she stopped beside him and leaned over. “Who are you in love with?”  
Dipper’s face turned bright red. “N-no one. Not right now. I-I mean, I’ve had some crushes in the past, but-”  
Leeli patted his arm. “It’s okay. You boys are really cute when you’re nervous. Girls like that,” her eyes grew distant and dreamy. “We also really like boys who are confident.”  
“Yeah that’s what grunkle Stan says- wait,” Dipper stared at her. “Who are _you_ in love with?”  
Leeli felt her face heat up and she ducked her head. “He’s a boy from the Hollows named Thorn O’Sally. He kind of, asked me to marry him, when we’re older.” She started limping away a little too quickly.  
Dipper hurried after her. “Wait, a boy _proposed_ to you?! How old are you?”  
Leeli lifted her head. “I’m eleven, but I was nine when he asked me. And he didn’t really propose, just said that he thought it’d be a good idea for us to get married when we’re grown up.”  
“Wow. I can barely get a girl’s email address,” Dipper shook his head.

Ahead of them, Janner laughed at something Sara said. Leeli smiled at them. They were so sweet together.  
“How did Janner and Sara meet?” Dipper asked after a moment.  
“They were slaves in the Fork Factory together,” said Leeli, sobering a bit. “Sara helped Janner escape, but stayed behind. Then she led a rebellion of children against the Fork Factory overseer, took care of a couple hundred orphans during the war in Skree and sailed across the Dark Sea to Anniera with the ones whose parents never came from them.”  
Dipper blinked. “Wow. That’s crazy.”  
“Janner inspired her to lead her rebellion,” said Leeli, smiling again. “It’s very romantic.”  
Dipper laughed nervously. “I kind of get that. The girl I had a crush on my first year in Gravity Falls, Wendy, is still the most epic person I know. She helped me rescue Mabel during Weirdmageddon.”  
Leeli raised an eyebrow. “Do you still liiiike her?”  
“N-no! I mean, she’s two years older than me, it’s, heh, no,” Dipper shook his head. “Anyway, there’s other girls I like now.”  
Leeli tilted her head and batted her eyelashes. “Like who?”  
“Let’s change the subject,” said Dipper, walking a little faster.

Leeli kept pace with him, giggling to herself.

****

“Are you sure this is going to work?”

Artham glanced over at Fiddleford, who stood on the roof beside him and nodded.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” said Fiddleford. “I re-converted the power source anyway. Or it’ll blow up!” he cackled. “We’ll see!”  
Artham frowned and stepped a little closer to his friend, ready to grab him and fly away from any potential explosions.

The two of them stood before the bright, bizarre looking sign that proclaimed, “CHRISTMAS GIFTS” in bold letters. Artham thought it was a little strange to put it up, since they did not, in fact, have any Christmas gifts, but both Mabel and Kalmar had insisted that it should go on the roof, so he had shrugged and flown it up along with the rest of the lights.

Fiddleford held a small device in his hands which, if all went according to plan, would turn on all the lights covering the castle and the sign before them. They had been working for several hours, running and flying over the rooves and towers with strings of clear and multi-color lights that Fiddleford had made.

Fiddleford’s fingers hovered over the switch and he looked up at Artham, grinning. Artham grinned back, trying not to feel nervous.

Then, Fiddleford flipped the switch.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then there was a crackle and a BANG and energy exploded out from the sign. Fiddleford yelped and stumbled, but before he could fall Artham had grabbed him and flown them into the air, his heart racing.

“I told you that was a bad idea,” said Artham mildly.  
“It worked though! Lookie!” Fiddleford pointed eagerly.

Artham looked down and couldn’t help but be impressed, in spite of everything. The castle looked like it was glowing with all the bright, shining lights. As if it were a colorful star that had fell out of the sky onto Anniera.

He smiled. “It is rather grand. Well done, Fiddleford.”  
“Aw, I only made the lights,” Fiddleford said, shaking his head. “You put most of ‘em up.”  
“You helped quite a bit,” insisted Artham. “And I have to admit, it’s very handy that you’re so good at scrambling up roofs.”  
“It’s pretty darn handy that you can fly too,” said Fiddleford, patting his wings.  
Artham chuckled. “So, shall we go find the children and show them our handiwork?”  
“That sounds like a fine idea!” Fiddleford clapped his hands together and grinned.

Artham grinned and flew them down to the ground. “I think we can confidently say that the halls have been decked, don’t you?”  
“Well, it’s been a while, since I did anythin’ like this, but,” Fiddleford stood and gazed up at the castle. “I don’t see how y’could think anythin’ different, lookin’ at all that!”  
Artham’s grin widened. “Excellent.”

Meanwhile, as the glowing castle shone out into the fading light all the Annierans looked upon it in thoughtful confusion, wondering what in Aerwiar their young rulers were up to now.


	4. Snowflakes in the Air

It was the next day, just after breakfast. The Wingfeather children were waiting for Mabel and Dipper to appear and help them with whatever Christmas shenanigans they were to get up to. Or, more accurately, Kalmar was trying to explain the importance of Christmas decorations to Nia, Aurendelle and Podo, and Leeli and Sara were trying to weave tinsel into Artham’s hair.

Janner, meanwhile, was on a mission. He slipped up beside Fiddleford, who was sitting on the end of the table, tinkering with something.   
“Fiddleford,” said Janner in a low voice.  
Fiddleford jumped, then looked up at him and grinned. “Hi Janner.”  
Janner smiled a little. “Hi. Can I talk to you about,” he glanced around at the others, who were paying them no mind. “Our project?”  
Fiddleford blinked, then nodded. “Oh yeah, sure, here c’mon,” he hopped off the table, took Janner’s hand and pulled him out of the dining room. They walked along the hall until they reached a nearby storage cupboard and Fiddleford pulled Janner inside.

“So what is it?” asked Fiddleford, after they were safely inside.  
Janner took a deep breath. “Okay, I know we started planning this weeks ago, but I didn’t realize Dipper and Mabel were going to show up and have us do- well, all this. So, I mean, I’m not sure how much I’m going to be able to slip away with them around, it’s hard enough to avoid Kalmar.”  
“Aw, that’s okay,” Fiddleford shrugged. “It won’t be long till it’s done. I can finish it by myself, or with help from Artham. You have fun with yer friends.”  
Janner nodded. “Thanks. But, also, I just wanted to make sure that you know if it doesn’t get finished until after this Christmas stuff is over then that’s okay. I know Kal made you “official Christmas inventor” and I don’t want you to get, well, overwhelmed,” he shuffled awkwardly. He wasn’t used to having conversations like this with grown-ups.

But Fiddleford was a special kind of grown-up, and Janner needed him to know that he wasn’t worried about this.

Fiddleford looked surprised too. “Oh, well, I, I’ll be alright. Like I said, it’ll be done soon enough anyway. An’ I know you wanted it fer yer brother.”  
“I do,” said Janner, nodding. “But there’s lots of winter left, we’ll enjoy it whenever it’s finished,” he reached out and set his hands on Fiddleford’s shoulders. “So don’t worry about it, okay?”

Fiddleford hesitated, then reached up and patted one of Janner’s hands. “Aw, don’t worry ‘bout me. ‘Sides, Christmas is the time for givin’ gifts, an’ this’d be a real fun gift,” he grinned.  
“Just promise me you aren’t going to let yourself get stressed out about it, okay?” said Janner.  
Fiddleford took Janner’s hand off his shoulder and patted it. “I promise.”  
“Good,” Janner smiled.

Just then they heard Kalmar shouting down the hallway. “JAAAANNER! FIDDS! MABEL AND DIPPER ARE HERE!”

“Guess we’d better get back,” said Janner.  
“Yep! Can’t wait to see what them kids come up with today!” Fiddleford cackled.

****

Mabel looked out the window and gasped. “It’s snowing!”  
Leeli, Sara and Kalmar joined her in looking out. “It is indeed,” agreed Kal.  
“You know,” said Sara suddenly. “I can’t remember the last time I went outside and caught snowflakes on my tongue,” she looked at Mabel. “Do children do that where you’re from?”  
“Of course we do!” said Mabel. “And you’re right, that sounds like fun! Hey Dipper, wanna go catch snowflakes?”  
Dipper, who had just finished saying hi to Janner and Fiddleford when they came in, turned back to look at his sister. “Mabel, in case you haven’t noticed, we aren’t exactly dressed for winter weather.”  
Mabel looked down at her sweater. “We’ll be fine.”  
“No. No you will not.”

The children all looked up at Nia, who had just walked out of the kitchen and was frowning. “Neither of you are going outside dressed like that. Neither of you have coats or boots, and Mabel we’ll need to get you a thicker skirt. Sara, Leeli, see what you can do about finding some extra clothes for Mabel. Janner, Kal, I’m sure one of you has a coat and some extra boots that will fit Dipper.”  
“Yes, mama,” chorused the Wingfeather children.  
“C’mon,” said Kal, grabbing Dipper’s hand. “Nice hat by the way.”  
“Thanks,” said Dipper, running his other hand over the brown, woolen hat. “A friend gave it to me. I thought Mabel might try and get us outside today, so I figured I’d better wear something warm.”

The children scattered. A short while later they reappeared in the dining room for inspection. Nia stood before them, hiding a smile.

Dipper and Mabel now both wore boots and coats. Mabel had a thick fur skirt on and a bright red knitted hat. Dipper had acquired a green knitted scarf.  
The Wingfeather children were similarly arrayed. Nia walked down the line of them and inspected each fidgeting child for slightly longer than necessary. Finally, she walked back in front of them and paused. The children watched her eagerly, all of them quivering with barely contained energy and excitement.

Nia simply stood there for a long, agonizing moment, then she nodded. “Alright. You may go.”

The children let out whoops and cheers and dashed from the room down the hall. Nia grinning as she watched them go.

The little herd dashed out the front door of the castle. Just before they started down the steps to the lawn, Kalmar, who was at the front, skidded to a stop. The others plowed into him and nearly knocked him over, but he shoved them back.

“Wait,” he said, uncharacteristically solemn. “Look.”

They all looked up over the lawn. Pure, untouched snow stretched as far as the eye could see. It shimmered, full of bright, sparkling crystals. More flakes fell from the sky and added to the serene quality of the scene.

“Wow,” whispered Leeli. “It’s beautiful.”  
“I can’t believe you stopped to look at it Kal, I mean-” Janner began.

Kalmar suddenly gave a whoop and jumped off the steps into the snow. He took off running through the field of white, laughing, leaving a trail of footprints all through the formerly undisturbed snow.  
Janner snorted. “That’s more like it.”

Mabel gave a shriek and sprang after him. Leeli laughed, and scrambled after them.  
Sara gave Janner and Dipper a shove that nearly sent them sprawling in the snow. “Get a move on, slowpokes!” she laughed, pushing her way between them and shooting off after the others. The boys looked at each other, grinned, and tore after them.

The children chased each other through the snow, laughing. Finally, they all collapsed in the snow, laying on their backs and gazing up at the sky.  
Sara stuck out her tongue and caught a snowflake. “I’ve always liked winter,” she said. “Mostly because the Fangs hated it, and it was easier to avoid them.”  
“Ha, yeah, and if you hit one with a snowball it was easier to get away,” grinned Kal.  
“You hit a Fang with a snowball?!” said Sara, sitting up.  
“Only once,” said Kal, shrugging.  
“And they didn’t kill you?!”  
“No. I can’t really remember, Janner, why didn’t the Fangs catch us?” Kal looked over at his brother, frowning.  
Janner took a deep breath and his eyes grew distant. “We were playing in the center of town with the Blaggus boys,” he remembered. “I was only eight, so Kal you were seven. Grandpa had just walked into Shaggy’s Tavern for a minute when Kal threw a snowball that hit a Fang walking by right in the head.”

The other children were silent. Dipper and Mabel looked at each other, knowing just enough of the Wingfeather children’s history to realize how serious this was.

“They looked over at us kids, and we all froze. I think they were gonna arrest all of us,” said Janner, his voice, quiet. “But then another snowball flew out of nowhere and hit the wall right next to the Fangs. I looked over and there was Peet- uncle Artham. He had another snowball in his hand and he was babbling something, but the look on his face, I’d forgotten about it until now, but he looked almost fierce. I think I was a little scared of him. Anyway, he threw the other snowball at the Fangs and they ran after him. I don’t know what happened to him, but a minute later grandpa came out and took us home. That was the first year Peet was in Glipwood. I guess he was always watching out for us.”

The children were silent for a few moments. Then Kalmar took a deep breath and said, “I’m getting cold. Let’s go inside.”

He stood up and brushed himself off. The others followed suit, and walked inside with snowflakes still melting in their hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm, what are Janner and Fiddleford up to? Who knows? :)
> 
> And yes I did sneak references to Peet into this chapter. I love my boy. I do wonder how many times he did things to protect the little Wingfeathers that they never knew about, or that they only realized later, after they found out who he was.


	5. Hot Chocolate and Candy Canes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's just assume I'm not proofreading any of these, 'kay? 'kay.

“We should have hot chocolate,” said Mabel, after they had taken off their boots and hung up their coats.  
“What’s hot chocolate?” Leeli asked.  
Mabel stared at her. “You don’t know what hot chocolate is?! How are you people so deprived?! Wait, do you even have chocolate here? Oh, gosh, please say you have chocolate!”  
“Of course we have chocolate!” said Kalmar, indignantly. “Is hot chocolate where you melt it or something?”  
“Sort of,” said Dipper, before his sister could go into another rant. “You usually add milk or water to it too. And the chocolate is usually this dried, powdery stuff, but when you mix it up and heat it it comes out all creamy and delicious.”  
“And you can put marshmallows in it!” added Mabel, grinning. “And candy canes.”  
“So let’s go make some!” said Sara. “Come on, there’s a stash of chocolate in the kitchen, and I know where it is.”

They followed Sara to the kitchen, where she climbed onto a counter and pulled out a large chunk of chocolate from a high cupboard.  
“We really should have marshmallows and candy canes too,” said Mabel thoughtfully.  
“From where?” asked Dipper. “It’s April in our world, Mabel, they don’t have Christmas stuff out.”  
“Maybe Soos has a stash,” said Mabel.  
“What are candy canes and marshmallows?” Janner asked.  
“Candy canes are just peppermint in the shape of a cane,” said Dipper. “I think there’s a story about why they’re like that.”  
“We have peppermint leaves,” said Leeli.  
“Er, well, it’s peppermint but with a lot of sugar and stuff, I’m not really sure how they’re made,” said Dipper, nervously.  
“And marshmallows are squishy white pieces of sugar!” said Mabel eagerly. “I know we can find some of those at the Shack.”  
“Well then why don’t you try and find some of that stuff,” said Sara. “Take somebody with you and the rest of us will stay here and melt this chocolate. You said we should mix it with milk, right?”  
“Yeah, until it’s sort of creamy,” said Dipper.  
“Alright,” said Sara. “We can do that.”  
“I want go candy hunting,” announced Leeli.  
“Aw, but Leeli-” Kal tried.  
“You and Janner got to go last time!” said Leeli. “And besides, you’ll eat half of whatever we find if you go along.”  
Kal’s ears turned red. “Would not,” he mumbled.  
“Yes you would,” said Janner, rolling his eyes.  
“I’m going,” said Leeli, firmly.  
“You can taste the chocolate, Kal,” said Sara.  
“Well… alright,” Kalmar sighed.

“Great!” Mabel grabbed Leeli and Dipper’s hands. “Be back soon!”

****

“Alright, search the house,” said Mabel, as soon as the three of them arrived in the Mystery Shack. “Leave no cupboard or drawer unopened!”  
Leeli looked around. “I’ve never been in your house before. It’s big.”  
“You start looking that way,” Mabel said, pointing. “Dipper, you check the attic, and I’ll search the second floor.”

She dashed off without another word. Dipper shrugged at Leeli. “Don’t worry, if you get lost we’ll find you.”  
“I’m not worried,” said Leeli. “I’ll be alright.”  
Dipper nodded, grinning. “Good luck. Oh, and by the way, candy canes are usually red and white striped, and marshmallows are white things about this big,” he held up two fingers.  
“Alright, thanks,” said Leeli. “Good luck to you too.”

Dipper dashed off, leaving Leeli alone in the Shack. She looked around for a moment, then shrugged and headed in the direction Mabel had pointed.

She had checked in a few drawers when she heard a small _boom_ and coughing. She limped along hurriedly and discovered Ford stumbling out of a room with smoke billowing out of it.

Leeli was not nearly as concerned by this sight as she would have been a year ago. She often found Kalmar and Fiddleford stumbling out of rooms in a similar state. It was, apparently, the way of inventors.

“Hello grunkle Ford!” she said cheerfully.  
Ford adjusted his glasses and stared at her. “Oh. Hello Leeli. Are we related now?”  
“No. That’s just what Mabel and Dipper call you, so I figure I might as well too,” said Leeli.   
“Oh. Well, what are you doing here?” asked Ford, frowning.  
“I’m looking for candy canes and marshmallows,” announced Leeli. “Do you have any?”  
“I can’t say that I do,” said Ford. “I can’t imagine you’ll find many candy canes around in April.”  
“That’s what Dipper said too,” said Leeli, thoughtfully. An idea was forming in her mind. “Grunkle Ford, you’re very good with science and things,” she said after a moment.  
“Well, yes, I’d say that I am,” said Ford, smiling a little.  
“Do you think that you could… make us candy canes?” Leeli asked.  
Ford blinked. “Er, well, I’m not sure. I mean, from a basic chemistry perspective, I potentially could, but I would need a lot of sugar and some peppermint extract and the necessary machinery to make them and-”  
“But you could do it?” Leeli interrupted.  
Ford adjusted his glasses. “Well, hypothetically, yes.”

Leeli sidled up to him and let go of her crutch in favor of holding on to Ford’s sweater. “Could you please try? Please?” she asked, staring up at him with wide, blue eyes.  
“Er, well, I-I suppose I could,” said Ford.  
Leeli beamed at him and hugged him. “Thank you, grunkle Ford!”

Ford patted her head. “Ah, yes, well, you’re welcome, er, Leeli.”  
Leeli pulled back and grabbed her crutch. “I’ll help you!” she said determinedly. “Where do we start?”

****

“So how much milk do we add?”  
“I don’t know, I’ve never made hot chocolate before.”

Sara, Janner and Kalmar stood around a large pot of melted chocolate on one of the kitchen stoves, each of them regretting that they hadn’t thought to ask for a recipe.

“What are you three doing in here?” came a voice.

The children looked over and saw Aurendelle walk into the kitchen. She tilted her head curiously and smiled at them.

“Well we’re _trying_ to make hot chocolate,” said Kalmar. “But we don’t really know how and Mabel and Dipper left without giving us a recipe.”  
“You’re making hot chocolate?” Aurendelle said, surprised.  
“Yeah, it’s- wait, you know what it is?” Kal frowned.  
“Indeed I do,” said Aurendelle. “It used to be very common when I was a child. I fondly remember many winter evenings huddled around a fire with your father and uncle when we were children, sipping hot chocolate and listening to stories. Before the war with the Fangs chocolate was a common trade item, but after the war started,” she shrugged and sighed sadly. “I suppose the world thought there were more important things than hot chocolate.”

“So, do you know how to make it?” Sara asked after a moment.  
Aurendelle smiled. “Yes I do.”  
“So you’ll help us?” Janner added.  
“I would be happy to,” she walked over to the pot. “It looks like you’re brewing enough for a small army.”  
“Do you know what candy canes are too?” Kalmar asked.  
Aurendelle shook her head. “No, I’ve never heard of those.”  
“Hopefully Dipper, Mabel and Leeli can find some then,” said Janner. “Because I would really like to know what all the fuss is about.”

****

“I can’t believe we lost Leeli!”

Mabel sat at the kitchen table, a bag of marshmallows beside her, watching her brother pace. “You don’t think she went to try and barter with the fairies, do you?”  
Dipper froze, a terrified expression on his face. “Oh gosh, you’re right, what if she went in the forest, she could get eaten, oh my gosh, Mabel, we have to find her!”

He shot off towards the door. Mabel jumped up and grabbed hold of his shirt to stop him.  
“Hang on, bro-bro! She might not be in the forest at all! Maybe she’s just somewhere in the Shack we didn’t look-”  
“We looked everywhere! Oh no, what if she fell in the Bottomless Pit?! What are we gonna tell Janner and Kal?!”

At that moment there was a BOOM from somewhere under the Shack. The twins looked at each other.  
“You don’t think-” said Dipper.  
Mabel nodded, eyes wide.

As one they shot off in the direction of the basement. They flew down the stairs and into the elevator, dashing out the second the doors opened.

Ford’s lab was filled with smoke and, oddly, the smell of peppermint. When enough of the smoke had cleared to see, Dipper and Mabel were greeted with the sight of Ford and Leeli standing in front of a table, bright red and white sticky candy stuck all over their hands, hair, faces and clothes.

“Well that wasn’t right,” said Leeli.  
“But we can safely say that excessively heating the sugar to speed up the process was not successful! Progress, Leeli!” said Ford, making a note on a now-sticky notepad.

“What on earth is going on?!” asked Dipper.  
“Oh! Dipper, Mabel, hello!” Ford waved cheerfully. “Leeli and I are making candy canes.”  
Dipper gaped at them. “You’re doing _what_ -”   
“And you didn’t invite me?!” shrieked Mabel.  
“You were busy,” said Leeli.   
“But you’re cooking! I love cooking!” insisted Mabel.  
“Well, look on the bright side,” said Leeli. “At least you don’t have candy stuck in your hair and have to explain why to your mama.”  
“So you blew the candy canes up?” asked Dipper.  
“Just one batch,” Leeli shrugged. “We have another one,” she reached over and picked up a red and white striped candy in the vague shape of a cane. “See?”  
“Well, next time you’d better invite me,” said Mabel.  
“Next time?” Ford frowned.  
“Well yeah! We’re gonna need more candy canes for their Christmas!” said Mabel.  
“Well, I suppose that will give me time to get the technique down then,” said Ford thoughtfully.  
“Did you find marshmallows?” Leeli asked.  
“Uh-huh,” Mabel nodded.  
“Then we’d probably better get back to the others,” said Leeli. “I’m sure the hot chocolate is finished by now.”

Mabel picked up the tray of candy canes to carry them out and Dipper and Leeli followed her. Leeli waved as she walked out. “Bye, grunkle Ford!” she called.  
“Farewell, Leeli! Hope to see you again soon!” Ford called back.

Leeli grinned. Dipper stared at her.  
“You call him grunkle Ford?” he asked.  
Leeli shrugged. “That’s his name. It’s either that or I call him Stanford like mama does.”

****

The children reunited a short while later in the kitchens of Castle Rysen, with their homemade hot chocolate and candy canes. When everyone had a mug with a candy cane and some marshmallows stuck in it, the children (and Aurendelle) cracked their mugs together. Then as one they all took a swig of their brew.

“Woah,” said Janner.  
“It’s delicious!” grinned Leeli.  
“Well it is mostly sugar and chocolate,” said Sara, grinning back.  
“This is the best drink I’ve ever had!” said Kal. “And the candy canes are fantastic!”  
“I think I like this better than the box stuff,” said Dipper, looking down at his hot chocolate.  
“It’s definitely better than the box stuff,” agreed Mabel.  
“It certainly brings back memories,” said Aurendelle.  
“What kind of stuff did you and our father and uncle Artham used to do in the winter?” Janner asked.  
“Oh, the same sorts of things you children do now, I suppose,” said Aurendelle. She took a sip of her hot chocolate and looked back to see all six children gazing at her expectantly. She laughed. “Oh alright. Well, one time, Artham and Esben got it in their heads to sled down the biggest mountain in Anniera. And of course I had to come along too. So there we were, eleven and ten years old, camped up in the mountains…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Having a chocolate shortage is obviously one of the horrors of war.  
> I honestly never though I'd be writing a scene where Ford and Leeli make candy canes together, but aerwiar. xD


	6. A little Christmas helper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, so I'm not sure how this chapter ended up this long, I just wanted Mabel to meet Dora and then well, things spiraled out of control. So enjoy Mabel trying desperately to befriend a kitten who does not want to be friends. xD
> 
> Fiddleford is Dora's "dad" by the way.

“What is that?!”

Mabel’s gasp and ensuing squeak made the other children look up from what they were doing and glance in the direction she was looking.

“What is what?” Kalmar asked.  
In answer, a brown blur streaked by, chasing an ornament. Mabel squealed again.  
“Is that, is that a kitten?” she whispered.  
“It is!” said Leeli, grinning. “Her name is Dora.”  
“You have a kitten and you didn’t tell me?!” said Mabel, outraged.  
“She’s not our kitten, she’s Fiddleford’s,” said Janner. “And she’s kind of shy around new people.”

As if she knew she was being discussed, Dora stopped chasing her ornament, one paw lifted in the air, head tilted to the side, watching the children.

Then, without so much as a squeak, she darted behind a chair.

“She’s so cute!” said Mabel. “How old is she?”  
“Uhh,” Kal shrugged. “Small?”  
“She’s about nine months old,” said Sara, rolling her eyes.   
“I’m going to make friends with her,” Mabel announced. She crawled over to the chair Dora had dashed behind and peeked behind and under it. “Huh, where’d she go?”  
“They said she’s shy, Mabel, maybe you should just leave her be,” said Dipper.  
Mabel gave him a look. “Dipper, you have known me for fourteen years, have you ever known me to pass up an opportunity to make friends with a cat?”  
Dipper sighed. “I’m just saying, maybe she doesn’t want to be friends.”  
Mabel gasped. “All cats want to be friends with me! Some of them just don’t know it yet!”

Dipper glanced over at Janner. “How did Fiddleford even get a kitten?”  
Janner shrugged. “He found her. She was just hiding outside the castle, we don’t know how she got here.”  
“She was so tiny!” said Leeli. “A tiny little brown puffball!”  
Mabel squealed. “It is a tragedy that you don’t have cameras here.”  
“I drew her when she was a baby,” said Kal, grinning. “If you wanna see.”

Mabel was distracted for a good while by cooing over the pictures of baby Dora, but eventually she looked up with a determined expression.  
“I absolutely must meet her,” she said firmly. “Where does she like to hide?”  
“Everywhere,” said Janner.  
“Fiddleford’s room,” said Kal. “Also in every invention we make.”  
“Sometimes she falls asleep in Fiddleford’s hat,” grinned Leeli.  
“She’s in the kitchen pretty often too,” Sara said.  
“Then I must go on a quest to find her!” said Mabel, springing to her feet. “Who wants to come?”  
“Pass,” said Dipper. “And I still think you should just leave her alone, Mabel.”  
“She might just let you come to her if you don’t bother her too much,” agreed Leeli. “She _is_ shy.”  
“And if you really want to get to know her then ask Fiddleford to introduce you,” said Sara.  
“But I don’t even know where he is!” said Mabel. “And this is urgent.”  
Leeli giggled. “You’re like me with puppies,” she said. “I’ll come with you. Dora likes all of us.”  
“I’ll come too!” said Kal, springing up.  
“You just don’t want to do T.H.A.G.S.,” said Janner, rolling his eyes.  
“Shhh, don’t let mama hear you,” said Kal. “If anyone asks I’m on an important diplomatic mission.”  
Janner snorted and Dipper started laughing. Sara grinned.

“Alright, the quest to find the kitten begins!” said Mabel, charging off into the hallway. Kal and Leeli hurried after her.

****

Dora was not sure what to make of the new children in the castle. She liked _her_ four children very much, but four was quite enough, thank you. She had decided she ought to hide until they left, like she did with all the other people who visited the castle. Most of the time, no one even knew she was there.

Unfortunately, the children didn’t leave in a reasonable amount of time like most people. It had been nearly two days and they were still there. And not only that, they were hanging out with her children, and dad was busy with something she was not allowed to help with, so she was very bored.

So she had made the mistake of going into the sitting room. It was so bright! Pretty sparkly lights she remembered dad working on were all over the walls and windows. Shiny balls hung from them, begging to be played with.

So, she obliged them. It had been a simple matter to knock one off the wall where it was hanging so she could chase it through the room.

She had become so engrossed that she had barely heard the children come in. She hadn’t payed attention because she had thought they were only her children, but then…

Then one of them had made an awful shrieking noise and stared at her and Dora had run to hide. She had snuck out of the sitting room and was now hiding in a blanket cupboard in a huff. How dare the extra children still be there. How dare they insist on playing with her children so she had to hide.

Dora’s ears twitched. Pawsteps. Big, human pawsteps. Coming towards her hiding place. She shrank back further into the blankets and prayed they would pass her by. Then she heard the pawsteps stop, and voices, two she recognized and one she did not.

Then the door opened.

****

“Mabel, wait!”

The other girl turned back and Leeli pointed at the door of one of the blanket cupboards. “Dora likes to hide in these sometimes,” she said.  
Mabel darted back. “Perfect!”  
“Just be careful,” said Kal. “If she gets scared she’ll smack you, and she’ll probably use her claws.”  
“It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been scratched by a cat,” said Mabel, shrugging.

She opened the door and stepped inside, Kal and Leeli peering in after her. They checked the shelves, and were just about to give up when Mabel gasped.

“Hi there!” she said in a hushed voice. The brown fluffball with wide green eyes stared back at her, ears back slightly, crouched against the wall.   
“I won’t hurt you,” said Mabel. “I want to be your friend.”  
Dora remained where she was. She let out a hiss and Mabel pulled back.

“Hmm,” she said. “Maybe one of you should get her out.”  
“I’ll do it,” said Kal. “You two go outside.”

The girls slipped out and Kal looked onto the shelf Dora was crouched on. “Hi Dors. It’s just Kalmar. You know I’m not gonna do anything to you.”  
Dora’s ears twitched up, and when Kal reached out a hand to her she nuzzled it a little. He grinned and scooped her up. “Good kitten. C’mon, you should come meet Mabel, she likes kittens.”

Kalmar carried her out, but as soon as Dora saw Mabel she let out a little growl and writhed out of his arms. The kitten shot off down the hallway in a fluffy brown streak, with the children staring after her.

“Well that went well,” said Kal, glancing at the new scratches on his arms.  
“Maybe we need a new strategy,” said Mabel thoughtfully.  
“Let me try calling her next time,” said Leeli. “I’m good with animals.”  
“She is,” agreed Kal. “I probably should have let her do it this time anyway.”  
“Alright,” Mabel nodded. “Then let the hunt for the kitten recommence!”

****

This time, Dora didn’t stop running until she reached the safety of her and dad’s room. The door was open slightly, as usual, so she could come and go as she pleased. To her great disappointment, dad was not there. She twitched her tail and sighed, then jumped onto the bed and curled up. She would be safe here.

She couldn’t believe that Kalmar had betrayed her like that. How dare he bring her out and try and give her to the other child. She had _not_ consented to this treatment.

She didn’t know anything about these new children! What if they were mean to her or yelled at her? Once and a while someone would yell at her to stop something she was doing and it always upset her deeply. Except dad. She knew he never meant it.

Dora’s ears pricked up. There was a noise coming from the hallway. A bright, lovely, soft noise. She kneaded her paws into the blankets happily. Abruptly she sprang to her paws and trotted to the door. She hesitated before slipping out, but the music seemed to be calling her, and she knew it must be Leeli. She loved Leeli. The only person she loved more than Leeli was dad. And she loved to hear Leeli singing.

So, silently, she crept into the hallway and followed the sound. Soon she found Leeli, standing in the hallway in front of a window, singing. Dora glanced around, but didn’t see anyone else, so she approached her girl.

“Mrrraw,” she said, stopping next to Leeli and looking up at her. _‘Hello!’_  
Leeli turned and crouched down beside her and said something. Dora knew she was saying hello back.  
“Mrrra, rrrowl, mrrrrow,” she said, leaning into Leeli’s hand as she scratched her head. _‘You have no idea the day I’ve had!’_

Leeli said something else in her sweetest, softest voice and pointed. For a few moments Dora was so caught up in listening to her girl that she didn’t realize that Kalmar and the girl from earlier had appeared!

Fear shot through her, and before Leeli could say a thing to comfort her, Dora darted away, running back to her room as fast as she could. She dove under the bed and hid there, quivering in the corner.

They were all out to get her! Why were they doing this?!

A horrible thought popped into her head. Were they trying to get rid of her?!

No, no, that couldn’t be it. She had not done anything worthy of being gotten rid of. Well, she did climb on the tables and counters when mama Nia told her not to, but…

No, they couldn’t be trying to get rid of her. They just couldn’t. Dad wouldn’t let them.

But then why were they tormenting her so? Why couldn’t they just leave her alone?!

Dora curled up into a ball with another sigh. She hoped dad would be back soon and straighten this mess out.

****

Kal, Leeli and Mabel sat dejectedly in the dining room. Not even Leeli had been able to calm Dora down enough for Mabel to meet her, and they were thoroughly out of ideas.

“I think we offended her,” said Leeli.  
“She’s not gonna talk to us for like two days now,” muttered Kal. “One time I dropped a wrench and it almost hit her in the head and she thought I tried to kill her. She didn’t come near me for days.”  
“This is all my fault,” groaned Mabel. “I should have listened to you guys when you told me not to mess with her. I just really, really wanted to play with a kitten. I mean, she’s so fluffy and she liked our decorations! I bet she’d be a great little Christmas helper. And now she hates us.”

“Who in their right mind would hate you, Mabel?” said a familiar voice.

The children sat up quickly and looked over in the doorway where Fiddleford stood, frowning at them.

“Fiddleford!” said Leeli, springing up and limping over to him. “There you are! We need your help. We accidentally upset Dora.”  
“I didn’t mean to,” said Mabel despondently. “I just wanted to play with her.”  
“Aw, I’m sure y’didn’t do no harm,” said Fiddleford. “Where’s the lil fuzzball hiding?”  
“She’s probably back in your room,” said Kal.  
“Well c’mon then, we’ll get this straightened out. Don’t worry, Mabel, she’ll like ya soon enough,” Fiddleford waved his hand for them to follow and headed off towards his room.

When they arrived, the children hesitated at the door, but Fiddleford propped it open and called them in.  
“No good hidin’ from her,” he said. “She’s got the best ears of any critter I ever met!”  
Kalmar and Leeli were used to the chaos that was Fiddleford’s room, but Mabel looked around curiously at the clutter of metal, wood, gears and half-finished inventions.  
“Your room is very nice,” she said finally.  
Fiddleford grinned. “Thanks!”

Then he knelt down and peeked under the bed. There, tucked in a corner was Dora. Her ears pricked up when she saw him, but she stayed put.  
“Hello there, lil Dors,” he said. “Why don’t y’come out here? I got somebody I want ya to meet. She’s a real good friend a’mine an’ you’ll like her if y’give her a chance.”

Dora hesitated, but came out from under the bed. She hissed when she saw Mabel, but Fiddleford scooped her up and scratched her head.  
“Now don’t you be doin’ that,” he told the kitten. “Mabel here’s a good friend a’mine. She helped me remember who I am, jus’ like you did, so be nice to her, got that? Now go say hello.”

He set Dora down and she looked up at the children uncertainly. Mabel knelt down and held out her hand.  
“Hi there,” she said in a soft voice.  
Dora tilted her head, then leaned forward as far as she could to sniff Mabel’s fingers. She pulled back and considered the girl.  
“Don’t be scared,” said Mabel. “If you come back with me I’ll find you loads of Christmas ornaments to play with. And wait until we get a Christmas tree! I bet you’ll love that!”  
Dora took a step forward and brushed her head against Mabel’s hand, then pulled back, but she looked up thoughtfully at the girl.

Mabel cautiously reached out a hand and brushed her fingers over Dora’s head. Dora hesitated for a second, then pressed her head up into Mabel’s hand.  
“Ha! Yes!” Mabel whispered her normally loud cheer as Dora let her pet her.

Fiddleford grinned. “See? Told ya she’d like you.”


	7. Of Snowmonsters and Snowmen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter, but one that I had a lot of fun with.

It was the third day of Christmas preparations when the Wingfeather and Pines children found themselves back in the snow again. It had continued to snow overnight and it now looked just as pristine as it had the day before when they charged into it. The noticeable difference, was that the temperature had gone up a bit, making the snow perfect for-

“Snowmen! We should build snowmen!” said Mabel.  
“Oooh, that would be fun,” said Leeli, grinning.  
“I haven’t made a snowman in ages,” agreed Sara.  
“I dunno, building just a snowman doesn’t sound that exciting,” said Kal.  
Mabel gasped. “Are you attempting to dampen my cheer, Kalmar?!”  
Kal grinned. “Not at all. I’m just saying that can’t we do better than making _just_ a snowman?”  
Mabel leaned closer to him. “What do you have in mind?”  
“Oh no,” muttered Dipper.  
“Here we go,” sighed Janner.

“I think,” said Kal. “We should build snow _monsters_.”

The children were thoughtfully silent for a moment.

“That’s, that’s actually not a bad idea?” said Dipper.  
“What kind of snowmonsters, Kal?” Janner asked.  
“I dunno,” Kal shrugged. “I just thought we’d seen a lot of monsters in our day and that it might be fun to make some.”  
“We could make them fighting!” said Mabel, eagerly.  
“And we could make it a competition,” said Dipper. “Whoever makes the best monster gets… something.”  
“The rest of the hot chocolate and candy canes,” suggested Janner.  
“Yeah, that works,” Dipper nodded. “We can have two teams.”  
“Well you can do that,” said Leeli. “But I’m building my own snow-creature,” she announced.  
Sara grinned a little. “I’ll help you, if you want.”  
“That would be most agreeable,” said Leeli, smiling.

“Then I guess it’s me and Kal versus Dipper and Mabel,” grinned Janner.  
“Ha! You better watch out, I’ve read all of grunkle Ford’s journals now,” said Dipper.  
“ _You_ better watch out,” warned Janner. “I’ve memorized Pembrick’s Creaturepedia.”  
“Alright, nerds,” said Kal. “You wanna put your cleverness to the test or just yell facts at each other all day?”  
Janner rolled his eyes and shoved his brother. “C’mon Kal, let’s get to work.”  
“Yeah, c’mon, Dipper! We can beat ‘em!” said Mabel, grabbing Dipper’s arm and dragging him off.

For the next hour or so the children were hard at work making their monsters. Meanwhile, Sara and Leeli watched as they worked on their own snow creation.

“C’mon, Kal, it’s teeth are longer than that!”  
“Well I haven’t actually seen one, y’know. We could have made a gargan rockroach, but nooo.”  
“They don’t live in the snow!”  
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I think I know what fangs look like though, Janner, I had some for a while.”

“Dipper, the wings keep falling off!”  
“Well, then make them smaller! I don’t know, improvise!”  
“Okay, okay. So when do we get to cover it with glitter?”  
“We’re not covering it with glitter!”  
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever you say,” she said, taking a container of glitter out of her coat.

“They both look so silly!” said Leeli.  
“I know. Ours doesn’t look great, but at least you can tell what it _is_.”  
“We argue a lot less too.”  
“Well. There is that.”

Finally, all three pairs of children were finished and stood proudly in front of their creations.

“Alright!” said Kal. “Who wants to go first? Yours looks like some sort of blob monster, I think.”  
“Yeah, well yours looks like a hedgehog! Who’d ever be scared of a hedgehog!” said Mabel.  
“We’ll go first,” said Janner. He and Kal stepped aside. “Behold, the mighty bomnumbble, terror of the slopes of Mog Balgrick!”

The boys parted to reveal a creature that did appear to have spikes in its back, along with two trunk-like arms stuck into the ground on either side of it. Its face was rather mangled, and appeared to have no distinguishable facial features other than a large set of fangs jutting up from what was presumably its lower lip.

“Ha, is that the best you could do?” said Dipper. “Well then feast your eyes on the fearsome gremloblin! Terror of the slopes of, um, the hill that- oh nevermind. Don’t look into its eyes, or you’ll see your worst fears!”

Dipper and Mabel stepped aside to reveal an admittedly lumpy creation with two triangles sticking out of its back, presumably meant to represent wings. Its body was covered in a healthy sheen of glitter, and in lieu of a face it seemed to have a head entirely made of two large eyes.

“Pffft, I wouldn’t be scared of that even if I saw it in the Blackwood!” laughed Kal.

“So how do we decide whose is better?” Janner asked, folding his arms.  
“Hmm,” Mabel turned. “Leeli, Sara, whose monster do you think is better?”

Leeli and Sara looked at each other for a moment then turned back to the others with very straight-faced expressions.  
“Neither,” said Sara flatly.  
“They’re awful!” Leeli giggled.  
“And anyway, you didn’t even ask to see what we made,” Sara said indignantly.  
“Fine,” said Dipper. “What did you guys make?”

Sara and Leeli stood aside, revealing a birdlike creature that tilted to one side, but had a discernible beak and face, as well as a saddle on its back.

Leeli looked very proud. “Can you tell what it is?”   
“It’s a chorkney,” said Janner, blinking.  
“Yep,” agreed Sara. “So, I think that makes us the winners.”  
“Wait, hang on, on what grounds?!” demanded Kal.  
“On the grounds of, we’re the only ones who made something that looks remotely like the creature we modeled it after,” said Leeli.

“Don’t worry, we’ll make you some tea, since there’s not enough hot chocolate for all of us,” said Sara, graciously. Then she and Leeli walked arm-in-arm back to the castle, heads held high, while Janner, Kalmar, Dipper and Mabel stared after them with eyes wide and mouths agape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leeli and Sara: 1  
> Everyone else: 0


	8. The Secret in the Mountains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Artham and Fiddleford continue to be dorks. I tried to throw some angst into this chapter but it kept turning into silliness, so aerwiar. xD

“Alright, there y’go, that oughta keep y’from freezin’,” said Fiddleford as he stuck a small heating device of his own creation into a box set into the snow. He stood up and brushed himself off, tucking his hands under his arms and shivering. “Not too sure about me though.”

Fiddleford looked down at the mountain slope and grinned in spite of the cold. The project was almost finished, and when it was he knew everything would have been worth it.

It had been a few weeks ago when Janner had come to him with an idea and a blueprint. Fiddleford had liked the idea immediately.

“It’s a thing from the Ice Prairies in Skree,” the boy had told him. “I rode on one to get to Kimera, a city under the ice. It’s called a boggan. It was set up to take you all the way down a mountain. I thought maybe it might be something you could make.”

It was. He and Janner had talked about it and decided to make a version that had several different levels- one that started at the top of the mountain, one in the middle and one closer to the bottom. The one near the bottom would be the one the children would be using when they inevitably went sledding in the winter.

There were also three different speeds Fiddleford had devised; fast, very fast, and insanely, wildly fast. He had plans (and the proper safety precautions) for the last one that he hadn’t even told Janner yet.

Janner himself had helped every day he could get away from Kalmar. This had been rather difficult for him, since his entire job was to stay close to his brother, but most days Janner could find a reason to be away from him for a few hours.

Things had gotten simpler when Artham found out what they were up to and joined them. He often ferried Janner back and forth and came up with excuses for his nephew to be with him.

Fiddleford could see Artham now, further down the slope, putting more of the heating devices into his little gearboxes to keep them from freezing. Fiddleford shivered again and started carefully making his way down towards where Artham was.

He shouldn’t be this cold, he reasoned. This was the most well-dressed he’d been for a winter in thirty years. He had a warm coat and a hat (made by Artham) and boots (Nia had very firmly insisted he wear boots outside in the winter). There was no comparison to the patched, threadbare coat and holey boots he normally wore in winter. He even had gloves, though he didn’t wear them as much when he was working on a project.

“And yet here y’are, still shiverin’,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Must really be gettin’ old.”

A shadow passed over him and he looked up as Artham landed in front of him, wings fluttering before they folded loosely against his back.

“Alright,” Artham said. “That’s finished. What do we need to do now?”  
“Hm,” Fiddleford glanced up the slope. “Well, I suppose we oughta test it out. Better go down lower though, or it’ll take an hour t’get to the bottom an’ I think I’ll have frozen solid by then!” he chuckled.  
Artham frowned a little. “But you aren’t too cold now?”  
Fiddleford shook his head. “Nah, I’m okay. Been colder than this most winters anyway. So, wanna fly us down?”

In answer, Artham scooped him up and took off. Fiddleford whooped, grinning. No matter how many times he flew with Artham he was never going to get tired of it.

They landed at the halfway point on the mountain, next to a neat little boggan sled. There was another one set similarly at the top of the mountain and a third further down.

“Will this do?” Artham asked.  
“Yeah, I’ll have us goin’ pretty fast, er, I mean, if y’wanna try it. I’m sure it don’t compare to flyin’, but,” he looked down and shrugged.  
Artham set him down and patted his shoulder. “I would be happy to test one of your inventions with you, Fiddleford.”  
Fiddleford looked up at him and grinned. “I was hopin’ you’d say that. Okay, c’mon!” he hopped onto the sled. Artham climbed on after him and held onto his shoulders. Fiddleford reached over and took hold of a lever set in the snow and pushed it to the second setting.  
“Ready?” he glanced back at Artham.  
“Ready,” Artham nodded.  
Fiddleford reached down and tugged a smaller lever that was horizontal to the snow that unlatched the sled from its docking station. “Here we go!”

They shot off like a bullet. Fiddleford yelped, then laughed. He heard Artham gasp then start laughing as well.

Snow sprayed on either side of them as they sped down the slope. At times the sled suddenly swerved on its track to avoid a boulder or some other obstacle. Fiddleford found himself shrieking with surprise when they came to those points, despite having designed the track himself. He was rather comforted by the fact that if he was suddenly thrown off the sled Artham could easily catch him before he fell off a cliff or crashed into anything.

The sled preformed its job admirably. It kept them on course and didn’t do anything it shouldn’t. They arrived at the bottom of the mountain in about fifteen minutes, which was perfect.

When the boggan finally slid to a halt Fiddleford and Artham sat there for a moment, panting. Fiddleford turned and looked back at his friend and started laughing.

“What?” Artham asked, mouth already quirked up in a smile.  
“Yer hair!” Fiddleford cackled. “It’s stickin’ straight up!”

He rolled off the sled into the snow, still laughing. Artham reached up a hand and tapped the tips of his hair, which were indeed sticking straight up. Then he started laughing as well and flopped down in the snow next to Fiddleford, his wings spraying snow when they moved.

After a few minutes, Fiddleford sat up, a hand pressed to his head, still grinning. “We’re silly fellers, ain’t we?”  
Artham sat up and shook snow off himself, scattering it everywhere. “Indeed,” he said, in his most solemn voice. “We are very silly fellows.”

Fiddleford fell back cackling again and Artham beamed.  
“You’d better get me back to the castle afore I freeze y’silly winged critter,” Fiddleford finally gasped.  
Artham grinned. “Well if you insist,” he reached over and picked Fiddleford up then shot into the sky, their laughter ringing through the mountains of Anniera like music.


	9. The Snowball War Part One: In which Certain Uncles are Very Protective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not proofread this, I don't know if it flows, I did not plan to write this chapter in so much detail it just sort of happened, have fun. xD

“Alright, today _I_ have an idea,” said Kalmar. He had climbed up onto a chair in the dining room. It was breakfast and the whole family was still there. Mabel and Dipper had gotten there early so they were also present.

Nia raised an eyebrow. “Yes, Kalmar?”  
“It involves everyone,” Kal continued, glancing at his mother. “I think that we should have a Snowball War.”

There was a pause, then Dipper said, “Don’t you mean snowball _fight_?”  
“No,” said Kalmar, very seriously. “I mean _war_. We split into teams and each try and take down the other group’s snow castle. It would be a fun way to work on our strategy skills.”  
“He has a point,” said Artham.  
“How does this involve all of us?” Aurendelle asked.  
“Well, we’re going to need a bunch of people to make teams,” said Kal. “And, uh, I thought maybe you grown-ups would want to play.”  
“Well if you insist,” said Artham, standing up.  
“Now hold on,” said Nia. “What if we don’t want to get pelted with snowballs?”  
“Oh come on, Nia, you can’t say it doesn’t sound like fun,” said Artham, his eyes sparkling.  
“No, she’s right,” said Podo. “For some of us our battling days are over.”  
“Aw, but grandpa-” said Kal.  
“I’m too old for that sort of thing, Kalmar,” said Podo apologetically. “Though I’ll happily throw snowballs at ye. I’m just not up fer runnin’ around trying to take back castles.”  
“Well I ain’t too old fer it!” called Fiddleford. “I’ll be in yer Snowball War, Kal!”  
Kal grinned. “Thanks, Fidds.”

Artham looked pleadingly at Aurendelle, but she shook her head. “You’re the strategist in the family, Artham,” she said, grinning. “I’ll make up some hot chocolate for when you all come in though.”

“Well,” Kalmar considered this. “That means we have… eight people. Unless you girls don’t want to play,” he looked at Leeli and Sara.  
“I’m insulted,” said Sara.  
“I’ll show _you_ a Snowball War,” muttered Leeli.  
“I have an idea!” said Mabel springing up. “We can go back to the Mystery Shack and recruit people! I bet we can get grunkle Stan and grunkle Ford to play!”  
“I bet Soos and Wendy would come too,” said Dipper, grinning.  
Kal counted on his fingers. “That means we’d have… twelve people!” he grinned. “ _That’s_ more like it.”  
“Then we could have our family versus yours!” gasped Mabel, delighted. “Oh now we _have_ to get the others! C’mon, Dipper!”  
“I’ll come too, to explain my plan!” said Kal, eagerly. He looked over at his brother. “Janner, can you, er, organize stuff here?”  
Janner grinned. “Sure, Kal.”  
“Excellent!” Kal jumped off his chair. “To the Mystery Shack!”

****

“Alright, lemme get this straight,” said Stan. “You want us to come help you wage war on your family, but for fun, right?”  
“Er, yeah, I guess,” said Kal, shrugging.  
Stan stared at him for a minute then nodded. “Alright. I’m in.”  
“Yes!” Kal punched the air and grinned.  
“Count me in too,” said Wendy. “I’m always up for hitting things.”  
“Yeah, sounds like fun dudes,” said Soos, grinning.

“That just leaves you grunkle Ford,” said Mabel, turning to him.  
“Well, I don’t know,” Ford muttered.   
“Aw, c’mon, Sixer, it’ll be fun!” said Stan.  
“Yeah, and maybe we can, like, invent a snowball cannon or something,” said Dipper.  
“A snowball cannon?” said Ford, thoughtfully.  
Kalmar looked Ford in the eye. “I bet Fidds and I can build a _better_ snowball cannon.”  
Ford paused and narrowed his eyes. The room collectively held their breath.

Ford stood, still staring at Kalmar. “You’re on.”

****

The Pines extended family, and Kalmar, arrived on the field outside Castle Rysen to find battle lines being drawn. Which mean that Artham and Janner were marking off the castle entrances with tinsel while Nia supervised. In the garden (which was currently covered in snow) Aurendelle had set up a table where whatever was about to unfold could be watched and was sitting there talking to an excited Sara and Leeli.

Janner trotted over when the Pines arrived and grinned at his brother. “So you convinced them, huh?”  
“Wasn’t too hard,” said Kal, shrugging. “I just had to bet Ford that Fidds and I could invent better weapons than him.”  
Janner looked around his brother and nodded at Ford. “Good luck.”  
“You guys are doing DOWN!” yelled Mabel.  
“Pfffft, no way,” said Kal. “We’ve got two Throne Wardens and a mad scientist.”  
“Well I have two grunkles and, um,” Mabel faltered.  
“Wendy,” suggested Dipper.  
“Yeah!” Mabel grinned.

Sara and Leeli had made their way over. “Hello!” said Leeli cheerfully. “I can’t wait to fight you all in a battle where there aren’t actually any lives at risk.”  
“I mean, I guess that depends on what Fiddleford and Ford end up inventing,” said Janner.  
“Speaking of which, we should get started and stop fraternizing,” said Kal, clapping his hands together. “Alright ever-”  
“Hold on a moment,” said Nia, walking up. “First, a few rules. One, I am perfectly content to allow you all to fight outside the castle, but under _no circumstances_ is your war to continue indoors. Anyone who violates that rule will be removed from the game at once. Two, absolutely no attacking each other with ice instead of snow. I shouldn’t have to say that, but I grew up in the Green Hollows and,” she sighed. “Anyway. I would prefer to keep injuries to a minimum.”

There was a pause.   
Finally, Kal dared to ask. “Is that all, mama?”  
“I suppose,” said Nia, nodding. “Oh, and no hitting bystanders on purpose. Or else,” she gave them an icy glare, then grinned. “And have fun.”

She walked away, leaving them all staring after her slightly nervously.  
“She was kind of scary,” said Soos.  
“That’s our mom,” said Leeli, proudly.  
“If she was a cop, I’d be in jail,” said Stan, shaking his head. “Alright, kids, let’s get this show on the road.”

****

Castle Rysen stood tall and shining in the fading afternoon light. Before it, like children with their parent, stood two miniature castles made of snow.

Castle Wingfeather looked suspiciously like a miniature Castle Rysen, except that instead of towers it appeared to have two houses resting at the corners of its parapets. It was well built, with six and a half foot walls in a neat little square.  
Castle Pines was less neat, but it did sport icicles stuck into the front of its wall, spike out, to deter intruders. Instead of a square it was a hexagon. The walls varied in height, but they were high enough to make it impossible to see the defenders over them.

When both castles had been devoid of activity for about ten minutes, Podo sauntered out inbetween them.  
“Right then!” he shouted. “I’m goin’ to assume that yer all finally ready! You all know the rules. First team to successfully take the other castle wins. Once I’m out of the way, go at it! And may the best team- that is, the one with me grandchildren on it- win!”

Podo hurried off the field. There was silence for a moment after he was gone.

Then a snowball was lobbed from Castle Pines at almost the exact moment a snowball flew out of Castle Wingfeather. The Pines’ snowball slammed into the Wingfeather’s wall, and the Wingfeather’s snowball found itself impaled on an icicle. 

Two heads popped over each group’s respective wall, then quickly ducked back down.

“No good,” said Janner. “Why didn’t we think of icicles?”  
“We’ll get ‘em back,” said Kal. “At least theirs didn’t get over our wall.”

“Well that didn’t do anything,” said Dipper. “Why did we build the castles this far apart anyway?”  
“All the more reason to use a cannon,” said Ford, cheerfully.

There was a long pause, then,

BOOM!

BANG!

Yelps sounded on both sides as the snowball cannons launched. There were outraged shouts, and then the cannons roared to life again.

“Time to spice things up!” said Kal, climbing into one of their towers. He aimed a second cannon through the window of their house towers and sent a snowball crashing into the icicles at the top of Castle Pines.

Mabel yelped as bits of snow smacked into her and the others. “What was that?!”  
“They have another cannon!” gasped Ford. “Up in their tower, one of the children is-”  
“Get down,” yelled Stan, knocking him to the ground as another snowball crashed into their wall.  
“Guess we’re gonna have to deal with that then,” said Wendy, grabbing an icicle and swinging it like a bat. “Somebody make a distraction.”  
Mabel popped up above the wall. “Hey Kalmar! I thought you were a better aim! Or are you only good with a bow and-” Mabel was abruptly cut off when a snowball hit her square in the mouth.

“Yes!” cheered Janner. “The Throne Warden strikes!”

Wendy, meanwhile, had vaulted over one of the side walls of Castle Pines and was sneaking towards Castle Wingfeather, brandishing her icicle. Unfortunately for her, she was spotted.

“Possible threat detected,” said Artham, pointing at the red headed girl.  
“I’ll get her,” said Leeli, climbing up onto one of the ledges they’d built into the walls. She lobbed a snowball at Wendy and hit her straight in the chest.  
“Yes!” Leeli cheered. “That’s one for the Song Maiden!” she threw another snowball at Wendy.  
This time, however, Wendy was ready, and swung the icicle at it like a bat. The snowball disintegrated.   
“Aw,” muttered Leeli. “I’ll get you for that.”

Having been spotted, Wendy abandoned all pretense of sneaking and ran straight for Kalmar’s tower. She swung her icicle at it fiercely, battering a dent into it.

“The castle is under attack!” yelled Leeli.  
“We know that, Leeli!” shouted Janner.  
“No, I mean the castle itself is!” Leeli clarified. “Fiddleford, countermeasures!”  
“On it!” he called, already scrambling up the side of the tower. At the top of the house he released a lever that sent snow cascading down-

-straight onto Wendy.

Wendy gave a muffled yelp as she was buried under snow. She shoved her head out of it and glared up at Fiddleford, who cackled and scrambled away.

“Wendy’s down!” Dipper yelled. “And, oh no, I think they’re coming out to capture her!”  
“Looks like it’s time for a rescue mission!” said Stan, grinning. “C’mon, Soos, you’re going to be my human shield.”  
Soos nodded. “One of my greatest skills.”  
Stan and Soos scrambled over the wall and darted into the fray. They charged over to the tower where Janner and Sara were digging out Wendy so they could tie her up.

Stan gave a wild yell and lobbed a snowball at Janner’s face that knocked him back a pace, while Soos yanked Wendy out of the snow pile. Sara threw a snowball at Stan’s face in retaliation.  
Stan yelped. “I forgot I have glasses! This isn’t good.”  
Janner tackled him and with Sara’s help they tied him up and pulled him into their snow castle.

“We have a hostage!” said Sara, grinning.  
“Oh excellent,” Artham grinned.  
“You’ll never get away with this!” Stan yelled. “I’ve broken out of worse prisons!”  
“But you could see then,” said Leeli.  
“Eh, it’s not that different from driving with cataracts,” Stan shrugged.

“They have grunkle Stan!” Mabel shrieked when Wendy and Soos were back.  
There was a small whirring noise and Ford stood up, holding his laser gun. “Not for long!” he leapt over the wall and charged across the space between the castles.

When he was a couple feet from Castle Wingfeather, Ford fired his laser gun at Kalmar’s tower. The heat from the blast sent it toppling to the ground (with Kalmar still inside).

In the ensuing chaos, Ford sprang over the wall, grabbed his brother and scrambled back out with him.  
“Jeeze, Ford, what did you do?!” Stan yelled.  
“I knocked over the tower,” said Ford, calmly, as they skidded back to the safety of their own castle.  
“Grunkle Stan!” Mabel grinned and hugged him.  
“Well that was slightly terrifying,” said Dipper.  
Stan cleaned off his glasses and looked out at the wreckage his brother had caused. “Ford, you do realize we’re fighting against _children_ , right?”  
“I’m sure Kalmar’s fine. He seems resilient,” said Ford.  
“ _Ford_.”

Janner and Artham worked to free Kalmar from the snow around the tower. Finally, Artham pulled his nephew out and carried him into the relative safety of the castle walls.  
“Are you alright?” Artham asked worriedly.  
“Yeah, I’m fine,” muttered Kal, rubbing his head. “I am going to _bury_ him in snowballs,” then he grinned. “Wait until they realize we have a third cannon.”  
Artham glanced at the wreckage of their tower. “There’s a gap in our wall now. We need to get it filled in before they take advantage of that.”  
He walked over and grabbed a bag of snowballs. “Fiddleford, can you see to the rebuilding?”  
“Well, yeah,” his friend stood. “What’re you gonna do?”  
“If they want to play dirty then so will I,” said Artham, fiercely. “I’ll keep them distracted, get the wall fixed.”

Then, Artham spread his wings and shot into the sky.

“Uh-oh,” said Stan. “They’re airborne!”  
“Maybe shooting the tower with a kid in it wasn’t your best idea,” Wendy said, looking at Ford.

Artham swooped over them, hanging in the sky for a moment like a vengeful angel. Then he dove, screeching with fury and pelting them relentlessly with snowballs. The Pines’ shrieked, trying desperately to throw or shoot snowballs back at him, but Artham evaded them all. He attacked with deadly accuracy, hitting his targets no matter how much they tried to dodge.

Finally, he ran out of snowballs and flew away just as suddenly as he had come. The Pines’ slowly peered over the wall of their castle and saw that the wall had been rebuilt, though it did not match the neatness of the rest.

There was a long pause where both groups attempted to regroup. At almost the same time, Leeli and Mabel peeked over their castle walls and shouted, “Truce?” across at the other.

There was a bit of laughter, and then the two groups came out of their castles and headed back towards the kitchens of Castle Rysen for hot chocolate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why did Ford even bring a laser gun to a snowball fight? I have no idea, but it seems in character.
> 
> Artham wasn't planning to use his wings but then Ford did That.
> 
> Trying to see anything out of your dang glasses after being hit in the face with a snowball is the WORST.


	10. A Flight to the Hollows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a struggle. I did not read it over I don't know what's happening and I forgot Sara existed for almost an entire chapter. Enjoy! xD

It was too dark for them to go back to their Snowball War after they had hot chocolate, so the families sat in the sitting room, chatting.

“You know what you guys really need to go with all this,” Stan said after a while, waving a hand at the Christmas decorations. “A party.”  
Mabel gasped. “Yes!”  
“But not just any party,” said Stan. “You gotta have a Christmas party like the one I went to at this one college.”  
“What’s a college?” Kal whispered to Janner.  
Janner shrugged. “No idea.”  
“Like, lemme tell you,” said Stan. “These people knew how to throw a party. I only went because they had advertised free food and I figured I looked about the right age for a college kid. Turned out to be one of the best decisions I made. At first they were just doin’ normal Christmas party stuff, y’know, singing, eating cookies and all that. But then,” he leaned forward. “Then they got to the gift exchange.”  
“Gift exchange?” said Leeli, curiously.  
“Yeah. They had this white elephant thing going on and-”  
“What’s an elephant?” Kal asked.  
“It’s like an oliphant but smaller,” said Dipper.  
“Oh, okay,” Kal nodded. “Why did they have one at their party?”  
“White elephant just means “anonymous”, kid,” said Stan, shaking his head. “Anyway, everybody was supposed to bring an anonymous gift and set it under their Christmas tree and then later people got to pick one out. Which is where things got interestin’.” Stan leaned back again. “But I ain’t gonna tell you the rest unless you actually decide to do it.”

The children looked at each other.  
“We’ll do it,” said Kal. “What’s the rest of the story?”  
“Ohh no,” Stan grinned. “You don’t get to hear that till the night of the party.”  
“What kind of gifts are we supposed to bring?” Sara asked.  
“Anything,” Stan waved a hand. “Honestly the weirder it is the better. Could be your dirty socks or a handcarved statue of Bigfoot or pressed flowers, whatever floats your boat.”  
“Sounds like fun,” Kal grinned. “Mabel, when do you think we should have it?”  
Mabel considered this. “Oh, maybe a week? That’ll give everybody time to get ready and stuff, and it’ll put it closer to Christmas.”  
“A week it is then!” declared Kalmar. Then he frowned. “I suppose this means we have to get a Christmas tree, don’t we?”

****

The Snowball War was temporarily put on hold as the children tried to figure out how to quickly get back and forth from the Hollows with a Christmas tree.

“Why don’t we just ask Hulwen and the other dragons?” said Leeli, finally.

They all stared at her.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” Kal said, pressing a hand to his forehead.  
“Wait, wait, wait, are you suggesting that we _ride the dragons_?” squeaked Mabel.  
“Yes,” said Kal.  
“Oh my gosh,” whispered Dipper. “They’ll let us do that?!”  
“Of course they will!” said Leeli, grinning. “They’re our friends!”

Mabel and Dipper both looked like they were about to start hyperventilating from excitement.

A little while later the children were gathering their coats and boots to leave when Nia came upon them.

“Where are you all off to today?” she asked.  
“We’re going to the Hollows to get a Christmas tree!” said Kalmar, cheerfully.  
“We’re going to ride _dragons_!!” Mabel all but shrieked.  
Nia blinked. “Not without adult supervision you’re not.”  
“What! Mama!” Kal glared at her and folded his arms. “We’re old enough to go by ourselves.”  
“No,” said Nia, firmly. “Go ask one of your uncles to go with you.”

The children hmphed and grumbled, but they did as they were told. They found the uncles in question sitting around a table playing cards with Podo. Except Fiddleford, who was sitting on the floor working on something.

“Oh hello children,” said Artham, casually, as they walked in. “Have you come with an idea to deliver us from Stan’s cheating?”  
“I’m not cheating!”  
“Yes you are,” chorused three other voices. Stan threw his hands up in annoyance.  
“We need someone to go with us to the Hollows to get a Christmas tree,” said Janner. “Mama won’t let us go alone.”  
“Well I can see why,” said Podo, raising an eyebrow. “That’s a day’s trip over and back across icy waters, lad.”  
“We’re not sailing, grandpa,” said Kal. “We’re flying! Leeli’s going to call the dragons so we can ask them for a ride.”  
Podo’s eyebrow raised further and he looked back at his cards. “Well good luck to ye then.”

“Wait a second,” said Ford, suddenly. “Hold on, did I hear you say you’re going to be flying on _dragons_?”  
“Yes!” Dipper grinned. “Does that mean you’ll come, grunkle Ford?”  
Ford stared at them for a moment, then stood, laying his cards on the table. “Yes. Yes I will.”  
“Will you come with us too, uncle Artham?” Janner asked.  
Artham hesitated. “Well I suppose I can,” he glanced over. “Fiddleford, do you want to come along?”  
Fiddleford looked up, frowning. “To the Hollows?” he shook his head. “I ain’t in any hurry to go back there after what happened last time. ‘Sides, I got things t’do here.”  
“Alright,” said Artham, standing. “I guess I’ll come along.”

****

The children, Artham and Ford stood on a cliff overlooking the sea as Leeli played her whistleharp.

“How do the dragons know when to come?” Ford asked.  
“There’s a specific song Leeli plays to bring them here,” said Janner. “You heard it last time when we introduced you to them. It used to be that _Yurgen’s Tune_ would work, but none of us really like _Yurgen’s Tune_ anymore, even Hulwen, so we use a different song now.”  
“Ah,” said Ford, scribbling a note in his current journal.

Then all at once there was a whoosh of air that almost sent them face-first into the snow. They all turned and saw Hulwen land in the snow, her bright red scales glistening in the sunlight.

_‘Hello children, Throne Warden, scientist,’_ Hulwen said in a voice only Janner and Artham could hear.  
“She says hello,” Janner related.  
“Good day to you, Hulwen,” said Artham. “The children have a request to make of you and your dragons.”  
“We were wondering if you could take us to the Hollows,” said Kalmar. “And then bring us back. We, uh, well, Mabel was telling us about this holiday from her world called Christmas and so we’re trying it out here in Anniera and I guess you need an evergreen tree for it. But it’s not really safe to sail between the Anniera and the Hollows in winter, so…”

Hulwen was silent for a moment. _‘I will do this on one condition,’_ she said finally. _‘What is the importance of this holiday? Why is it celebrated? And what makes it so important to you that you want to bring it to Anniera?’_  
Artham looked at Dipper and Mabel. “You two will have to answer this one. Hulwen says she and the dragons will help you, but that you must tell her why Christmas is important, and why we should celebrate it in Anniera.”

The twins considered this for a few moments and finally Mabel spoke, more thoughtfully than she normally did.  
“Well, Christmas is meant to give people hope. And happiness,” she said. “To brighten up people’s lives a little in the middle of winter.”  
_‘There have been many such celebrations over the centuries,’_ said Hulwen. _‘Is this different? How did it start?’_  
“She says humans have had lots of celebrations like that over the years,” said Janner. “She wants to know what makes this one special, and how it started.”  
“It has something to do with a baby,” said Leeli, suddenly. “Mabel gave me a bunch of Christmas songs to learn and that keeps coming up. There was a baby born in a stable who was supposed to grow up to be a king, I think?”  
“Oh, was he like us?” said Kalmar. “Like how we’re the Jewels of Anniera?”  
“Sort of,” said Dipper. “There was a baby born, called Jesus, and a lot of people believed he was meant to be the Savior of the world.”  
“So he was like us,” said Kal.  
“Not exactly,” said Dipper. “There’s more to it, but it’s been a while since I heard the story. I think, from what I’ve put together, Jesus was like what the Maker is to you guys.”  
The children sobered immediately.

“The Maker was… a baby?” said Leeli, after a moment.  
“That’s what the story says,” said Dipper.  
“But why would he do that?” Janner asked.  
“I don’t remember exactly,” said Dipper. “Like I said, it’s been a while.”  
“It’s only a story anyway,” grumbled Ford.  
“Is the story in a book?” Artham asked.  
“Yeah,” Dipper nodded.  
“I want to read it,” said Janner, immediately.  
“It may be like the First Books, then,” said Artham. “They tell of the history of Aerwiar and the Maker’s involvement in it. I would like to read it as well.”

_‘This is sufficient,’_ said Hulwen, suddenly. _‘The Maker coming into the world again is a worthy thing to celebrate. He has not walked here in epochs, if your world has been visited by him then you have received a great blessing.’_

“Hulwen says she thinks Christmas is worthy of celebrating if it has to do with the Maker coming into your world,” said Artham. “And she says that you have received a great blessing to have had him there.”

Hulwen sent a long, deep call into the air and after a few moments two other dragons alighted beside her. One was a silvery blue, and the other was dark green.

“They’re Christmas colors,” Mabel whispered to Dipper.

_‘Come along, children,’_ said Hulwen, kneeling down so they could climb on her back. _‘I will take the Song Maiden and the other little girl. The boys and the scientist may divide themselves up between the others. We will see you in the skies, Artham.’_

Artham grinned, and without another word, shot into the sky to wait for them.

“Alright, Leeli, Mabel, you get to ride Hulwen. She said us boys can divide ourselves up,” said Janner.  
“Nice to know who the favorite is,” said Kal, grinning at Leeli.  
Leeli stuck out her tongue. Mabel laughed.

****

“WOOOHOOOO!” Mabel shouted for the fifth or sixth time since they’d taken off. “This is the best day of my liiiiiiifeeeeeeee!”  
Leeli laughed. An answering whoop came from Dipper a little ways below them, along with Janner and Kalmar’s laughter. The boys had ended up riding together on the green dragon and they’d left Ford alone in the silver one. From how excited he looked and his nonstop chatter to himself that they picked up occasionally, he didn’t seem to mind.

Artham flew around them, spinning and diving and laughing. Every once and a while he would grab one of the boys or Leeli and whisk them off the dragons and through the sky as they shrieked with delight.

Soon, the cliffs of the Green Hollows came into view, rising up out of the Dark Sea.

“What is _that_?” Dipper asked, pointing to a massive chain fence hanging between two of the cliffs.  
“That’s the Watercraw,” said Janner. “When it’s raised nothing can get through it.”  
“Except a giant dragon-human creature with no respect for personal property,” added Kal. “And that city’s Ban Rona. We went to school there, for a while.”  
“That’s where we learned to be Durgans,” added Janner.  
“Cool!” Dipper grinned. “You’re gonna have to tell me more about this place later.”

The dragons flew down and landed in the hills just outside Ban Rona. After the children and Ford had climbed to the ground and Artham had landed, Hulwen spoke again.

_‘We will wait in the skies for you. Have Leeli call us and we will come.’_

Artham relayed the message and the dragons flew off again.

“Alright, so, how do we do this?” Janner asked.  
“Er, well, in our world they just have Christmas tree farms you can get a tree from,” said Dipper.  
“I know someone who can help us,” announced Leeli, already limping away. The others had no choice but to follow her.  
Janner and Kalmar shot knowing looks at each other and grinned. Mabel looked back and forth between them, eyes wide.  
“What? Who does she know?” Mabel demanded.  
“Oh just a certain member of the Houndry Guild,” said Kalmar, shrugging.  
“A certain- wait, is this that boy you told me about?!” Mabel said, running up beside Leeli.  
Leeli glanced at her and limped faster. “… Yes.”  
“Oh hickory nuts,” said Janner suddenly, slapping his forehead. “We didn’t tell Sara we were leaving!”  
Kalmar snorted, then doubled over laughing.  
Janner glared at him. “Kal, it isn’t funny.”  
“Yes it is!” wheezed Kal. “We summoned dragons and flew to the Hollows and it took you that long to remember you forgot your girlfriend!”  
Dipper patted Janner on the shoulder. “That’s rough, buddy.”  
“She’s probably mad,” groaned Janner. “I’m gonna have to figure out a way to make it up to her.”  
“Ask Mabel, she’s real good with that kind of stuff,” said Dipper.   
Janner took a deep breath. “Okay. We’d better catch up with the girls then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In other news, the Christmas party Stan talks about is based off my favorite Christmas party in college and since my college existed long before the 1970's/80's there is no reason he couldn't have ended up there at some point. xD


	11. O Christmas Tree

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They finally get the dang Christmas tree. Thorn makes a cameo because he's a good boy.

A knock on his door sent Fiddleford shoving a dozen half-finished creations under his bed and yanking a blanket over them. Dora watched him curiously and he pressed a finger to his lips.

“Don’t say nothin’ ‘bout that,” he whispered to her.  
Dora stared at him for a moment longer, then yawned and swiped a paw over her ears.  
“That’s right, act natural,” Fiddleford said, nodding. Then he raised his voice and called, “Come in!”

Sara stepped inside and glanced around. “Hi Fiddleford.”  
“Howdy Sara! What brings you here?”  
“The others ran off without me,” said Sara, sitting on the floor in front of him. “So I thought I’d see what you’re up to.”  
“They left without ya?” Fiddleford looked surprised.  
“Mhm,” Sara sighed. “This happened last time too. They’re making a habit of it.”

He could tell she was trying very hard not to seem upset about this and he wracked his mind for something to take her mind off it. “Say, I got an idea. Y’wanna help me with some of my inventions?”  
Sara grinned. “Sure.”  
“Okay! Well they might’ve gone to get themselves a tree, but it’s gonna be mighty disappointin’ when they get back and don’t have nothin’ to decorate it with,” said Fiddleford. “So I started workin’ on this.”

He pulled out the metal framework he’d made for a Christmas star tree-topper and showed her.  
“Oooh, neat!” said Sara, running her fingers over it. “What are you supposed to do with it?”  
“It sets up on top o’the tree,” said Fiddleford. “And we’re gonna make it glow real nice. Now, I also been workin’ on makin’ more lights, ‘cause a Christmas tree’s gotta have lights, and I was plannin’ to weave a bunch of ‘em through this here star to make it light up. I figure you’ll probably have an easier time of weavin’ that up then I will, so you can work on that.”  
“Okay!” Sara took the star and the lights. “Does it matter how I do them?”  
“Nope! Just so long as they stay!”  
“Alright. What are you going to do?”  
“Work on more’a these lights,” he pulled out a somewhat tangled string of half-finished lights. Dora darted forward and started chasing the end as it moved and he chuckled. “An’ watch out for Dora, she’s a right menace when she gets playin’ with these.”  
Sara giggled. “I’ll be sure to keep an eye on her.”

****

“But what are you gonna do with a tree, Leeli?”

The children, Artham and Ford stood at the door of the O’Sally house. Thorn, Leeli’s boyfriend, was standing in the doorway talking to them.

“Well decorate it, I suppose,” said Leeli. “It’s very important for Christmas, apparently.”  
“It is,” Mabel agreed solemnly.  
“Well, alright then,” said Thorn, shrugging. “I suppose it’s not any trouble for me to help you find a tree. Let me get my coat. Leeli, call some of the dogs around and get ‘em harnessed to my houndrick, we’ll need it if we’re gonna be gettin’ a tree.”

“Have they considered how they’re going to cut the tree down yet?” Artham asked Ford, sounding amused.  
Ford startled. “Oh, er, no, I don’t think they have,” he frowned. “I suppose we should probably think about that, since we’re adults.”  
Artham chuckled. “I can cut down a tree. I’ll need an axe though. Janner!” the boy glanced back at him. “Ask Thorn if his father has an axe. If he does then make sure you bring it along, otherwise this is going to be very disappointing.”  
“Okay, uncle Artham!”

Artham shook his head. “This is probably why Nia wanted someone to go along with them.”  
“Probably,” agreed Ford. He glanced nervously at Artham. “Er, say, you’re not mad about yesterday, are you?”  
Artham looked at him and frowned. “Mad about what?”  
“Well I did sort of knock a tower onto your nephew.”  
Artham chuckled. “Oh. No, I’m not mad. Besides I’ve had my revenge, it was very enjoyable to pelt your family with snowballs.”  
“Alright, well good. I just wanted to be sure. I seem to be very good at ruining current or potential friendships with people,” said Ford.  
“It’s always better to make sure about things,” said Artham. “Why did you bring a laser gun to a snowball fight anyway?”  
Ford blinked. “You know what a laser gun is?”  
“Fiddleford told me,” said Artham.  
“Oh. Well, force of habit, I suppose. I’m used to bringing weapons with me when I hop through portals,” said Ford, looking down.  
“Ah, yes, because you were stuck in other worlds,” Artham nodded. “That’s sensible.”  
“You think so?” said Ford, frowning.  
“Sure,” Artham shrugged. “When I got to the Hollows or Skree I take my sword with me. Even though the Fangs are gone there are plenty of other dangers in the world.”  
“That’s true,” agreed Ford. He was quiet for a moment, then, “Do you think Nia’s mad?”  
Artham snorted. “Stanford, if Nia was angry with you, you would know.”

Meanwhile, Leeli was just finishing getting the houndrick ready (along with eager assistance from Mabel) when Thorn returned, axe in hand.

The group set off, trekking across the snowy hills. After a little while they came to a grove of trees with several pines among them.

“So no one’s going to mind if we take one of these, right?” Dipper asked.  
Thorn shrugged. “Nope. They’re not on anybody’s land.”  
“We should take the biggest one,” said Kalmar eagerly.  
“The biggest one wouldn’t fit in the doors of Castle Rysen,” said Artham, coming up behind them.  
Janner had walked forward and was inspecting the trees. “How about this one, Kal?” he said, tapping the trunk of a tree about ten feet tall.  
The other children gathered around it.  
“It’s lovely,” said Leeli, patting it.  
Thorn nodded his agreement. “It looks real good.”  
“It is pretty nice,” said Kal, tilting his head. “Mabel you’re the Christmas consultant, what do you think?”  
“I think it’s perfect!” said Mabel, grinning and throwing her hands in the air.  
“Alright then,” Kal nodded. “We’ll get it.”

****

“Alright, Fiddleford, the star’s ready.”

Fiddleford jumped up and trotted over to Sara. “Just flick that lil switch on the side there and see how she looks.”  
Sara flipped the switch and gasped with delight when the star light up. The outside shone with all sorts of colors; red, green, blue, purple, gold, and in the center was a circle of white lights that made it glow. The colors reflected off the silver and gold wiring, making it sparkle almost magically.

“It’s beautiful,” said Sara.  
“It is, ain’t it?” Fiddleford grinned. “And you helped make it.”  
“I just stuck the lights on,” said Sara, grinning back. “You were the one who made them and put the star together.”  
“Aw, don’t sell yerself short, I’d’ve never made it look that pretty,” said Fiddleford. “’Sides it gave me time to finish these!” he held up a string of now-completed Christmas lights.  
“What else do we put on a Christmas tree?” Sara asked curiously, flicking the star off.  
“Well, y’put ornaments on it, but we used most’a those decoratin’ the castle,” said Fiddleford. “But the fun thing ‘bout ornaments is that you can make yer own. It used t’be real popular to make ‘em out’ve paper or carve ‘em from wood, and,” he hesitated, looking down. “And y’let yer kids decorate ‘em.”

They were quiet for a moment, then Sara said, “Can you show me how to make them?”  
Fiddleford perked up and grinned again. “Well sure, if y’want!”  
“I’d love to,” said Sara. “It sounds like fun!”  
“Well, we’d better find ourselves some materials then!” said Fiddleford, springing up again. “C’mon Sara, we’re make the prettiest darn ornaments anybody ever saw!”

Sara, giggling, followed him out, Dora hurrying after them.

****

It was some time later that, after much pushing, shoving, huffing and puffing, the rest of the children, along with Artham and Ford, managed to get the Christmas tree up in the sitting room.

“Okay! We have a Christmas tree!” said Kalmar, stepping back and grinning at it. He looked at Mabel. “Now what?”  
“Well we should decorate it now, but,” Mabel frowned. “I think we ran out of decorations… uhh, maybe we could take some off the walls?”

The door was suddenly flung open. They all whipped around to look and saw Fiddleford and Sara stride triumphantly through, carrying boxes.

“No need for that lil miss Mabel!” said Fiddleford cheerfully. “While y’all were gone we made new ornaments!” he set down his boxes and opened the top one, pulling out a string of lights. “And more Christmas lights! An’ Sara here’s got another surprise for ya!”  
Sara set down her boxes. She looked incredibly pleased about something.

She picked one smaller box out of the pile and set it aside, then started pulling out dozens of homemade ornaments.

“Do we get to see the surprise?” Kalmar asked after a moment.  
Sara didn’t even glance up. “Not yet.”  
Janner took a deep breath and walked up to her nervously. “Er, Sara, look, I’m really sorry we left you behind, it was an accident, er, but I know it’s pretty terrible that I did it and I’ll try to make it up to you-”  
“That’s alright, Janner, I forgive you,” said Sara briskly, standing up.  
Janner hesitated. “You do?”  
“Yes,” said Sara. “I had much more fun here making ornaments than I would have tromping through the snow with you.”  
Janner winced. “I guess I deserved that.”  
Sara grinned. “Yes you did, you stupid boy you.” She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Ooooh,” chorused Kalmar and Mabel. Fiddleford cackled, and Leeli started giggling.

Janner blushed scarlet and ducked his head. Sara picked up a box and held her head high as she walked past him.

“Alright, so, while you all were gone we made, what I am told, is the most important Christmas tree decoration,” said Sara, setting the box down and opening it. “So behold, the Christmas Star.”

She lifted out the gold and silver star and flicked the switch. The lights popped on and shone brightly out at them all. It did indeed look as though a star had come down to grace their tree.

“Wow,” said Kal, blinking. “You made that?”  
“Fiddleford made the star, I put the lights on it,” said Sara.  
“An’ she did a mighty fine job of it!” said Fiddleford.  
“It’s beautiful,” said Leeli, reaching out her hand to touch it.  
“So see, it was good I stayed here,” said Sara, grinning. “Because now we don’t have to wait decorate the tree.”  
“Well then what are we waiting for!” said Mabel, clapping her hands. “Let the decorating commence!”

The children went to work. Decorating was complicated slightly by the fact that Dora had discovered the tree and was having a blast scrambling through it. Occasionally she would bat at someone’s hand as they went to hand an ornament, or try to bite the string of lights or the ornaments themselves. Not even Fiddleford could get her to come out of the tree.

At the end, Artham picked up Sara and flew her and the star to the top of the tree, where she placed it proudly. The others laughed and applauded, admiring their handiwork for a few minutes before hurrying off to dinner.

****

It was after dinner when Fiddleford wandered back to his room and sat down on the floor with a sigh. After a minute, Dora appeared, pine nettles stuck to her fur, and purred loudly at him. He picked her up and held her against his chest.

“Well this ain’t goin’ so well, Dors,” he said. “Every time I start to get to work on my presents for ever’body somebody needs me for somethin’. And I don’t mind, I love them kids, but I gotta get these done. These people have done so much for me, I gotta at least give ‘em gifts at Christmas!”

He sighed again and set Dora down. She curled up in his lap and looked up at him curiously.

“I guess there ain’t nothin’ for it,” he said. “We’re just gonna have to stay up and work on stuff. Few hours each night should do the trick.” He nodded to himself.

He picked Dora off his lap and stood up with a wince. He was trying not to let it show, but all his aches and pains always got worse with the cold, and he’d been outside quite a lot recently…

“Alright, Dors,” he said, pulling out his pile of half-finished gadgets and gizmos out from under his bed. “We’d better get to work. When ya ain’t helpin’ listen at the door an’ make sure nobody’s commin’, alright?”

In answer, Dora walked over and stood up, leaning her paws against his shoulder. She pressed her face into his cheek and purred like a tiny engine.

“Heh, good lil fuzzball,” he said, petting her. “You’re gettin’ so big.”

Fiddleford and Dora worked late into the night, the first of many late nights, and fell asleep still curled up among the tools and half finished things on the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And how the dragons carried the Christmas tree back is for you to decide. xD
> 
> Also on all levels except physical I am Fiddleford.


	12. The Snowball War part two: The Children Prove their Mettle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter, but I'm happier with it than I am with a lot of the longer ones. Hope you enjoy!

Now that a Christmas tree had been acquired, the very important business of the Snowball War could be continued. The castles were fortified, inventions improved, and the teams assembled.

The second part of the war started out much as the first part had, with the two families testing each other out. Things got more heated when one of the house-towers on the Wingfeather side suddenly morphed into a trebuchet and the Pines family produced a ballista that shot giant snow arrows. Both groups took serious hits, but as before neither could quite overpower the other.

“Alright,” said Kalmar, during a lull. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. We need a new strategy. Ideas?”  
The others looked thoughtful and muttered a few things. Finally, Janner spoke up, a strange light in his eyes.  
“Kal, you remember that time during Durgan training that guildmaster Clout made us try and steal an apple from a tree he was guarding?” Janner said.  
“Yeah, why?” Kal asked.  
“Do you remember what we did?” Janner prompted.  
Kalmar stared at him for a moment, then suddenly the same bright, slightly manic light popped into his eyes as well. “Oh yeah! That was a good plan!”  
“Care to enlighten the rest of us?” Sara asked.  
“Okay, so what we did is Janner and another boy ran at Clout to distract him while I snuck up the tree to get the fruit,” said Kal. “So I’m guessing some of us sneak over while everybody else distracts the Pines.”  
“I think Kal and I should sneak over, since we’ve had sneakery training,” said Janner. “The rest of you charge at the Pines. Once we break in and attack-”  
“You guys join in and we’ll have ‘em!” Kal finished, grinning.  
“Exactly,” Janner nodded.  
“It could work,” Artham said, nodding. “If you two think that’s what we should do then we’ll give it a shot.”  
“Alright, load the snowball bags!” said Kal. “Janner and I will wait till you have them distracted before we sneak out.”  
“Be ready to run,” Artham warned.  
“I’m _always_ ready to run,” grinned Kal.

The Pines family didn’t know what hit them. One minute there was silence on the Wingfeather side, the next there was a chorus of wild screams and battle cries and the group charged through the space between the forts and started their attack.

The Pines’ recovered quickly and attacked back, shouting their own battle cries. Meanwhile, Janner and Kalmar snuck out of their fort, hurrying through the snow as fast as they could to Castle Pines.

They reached it without incident and scrambled over the wall. Then as one they each took a snowball from the pouch at their side and lobbed it at the Pines family. One hit Stan in the back of the head and the other hit Ford. The two men whipped around with indignant yelps.

The rest of the family glanced back as well and Janner and Kalmar were rewarded with the shocked looks on their faces right before Wendy threw a snowball that hit Kalmar in the face and knocked him down. He sprang back up, spitting snow and laughing.

“You’re all such poor sports!” he called. “Surrender now or face our snowballs.”  
“Not a chance kid!” shouted Stan, chucking a snowball at Kal that the boy just managed to evade.  
Kal grinned. “Snowballs it is then!”

There were wild yells on both sides as the Pines found themselves surrounded. The Wingfeathers surged into the castle, attacking with renewed fervor now that they knew they were winning.

Dipper grabbed Mabel and dragged her behind a snow pile. “Come on, I have an idea!”  
“But the fighting’s back there!” Mabel protested as he pulled her towards the castle wall.  
“Exactly!” grinned Dipper. “Come on!”

The Pines’ put up a valiant defense, but it wasn’t long before they fell before the Wingfeather’s numbers and ferocity. Kalmar gave a triumphant shout and jumped onto the wall of the castle, fist raised.

“We win!” he shouted.  
“Not so fast!” came a yell from the Wingfeather castle. Dipper and Mabel popped their heads over the wall and savored the shocked looks on the Wingfeather’s faces as they stared back.  
“We stole your castle!” Mabel shouted triumphantly.  
“What?!” Kal shouted back, outraged.  
“While you were distracted we snuck back here and took over your castle!” said Dipper, looking very pleased with himself.  
“Well we _still_ conquered your castle!” said Kal, crossing his arms. “So… I guess we tied?”

Laughter and clapping came from the sidelines where Nia, Aurendelle and Podo sat watching.

“Does this mean the war’s over?” asked Leeli as Artham set her up on the wall next to Kal.  
“So long as they agree,” Kalmar gestured at Dipper and Mabel. “I think we’ve had enough strategy practice.”  
The twins conferred for a moment, ducking behind the wall. Then they popped back up and called, “We agree!” before scrambling over the wall and trotting towards the others.

“Good,” said Kal. “Then let’s go get some hot chocolate.”


	13. Here we go a-Caroling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They HAD to have Christmas caroling. Had to. Leeli is a Song Maiden for crying out loud.
> 
> For the full experience of this chapter you need to know what banjo Christmas carols sound like so if you've never experienced them I found a nice little sampling here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cueGqdQQo5c&list=PLQ82VJFhERJqcmhkglmlE9joq3hoYKUFE&index=1  
> They will make your day more cheerful, have a listen!

It was the next day at lunch Leeli pushed her chair back and climbed onto it, much like Kalmar had a few days ago. “Alright,” she announced. “It’s my turn to pick what we do and I want to go caroling. Mabel said it’s a tradition, so we need to do it.”

“What if we can’t sing?” Kal asked.  
“Caroling isn’t about whether or not you can sing,” said Mabel. “It’s about spreading joy and cheer with songs!”  
“Trust me, Kalmar’s singing isn’t going to be spreading cheer,” said Janner. Kal shoved him and Janner laughed.  
“You’re not any better!” said Kal, indignantly.  
“We’ll sing over you,” said Sara.  
“Don’t they usually give the people who can’t sing maracas or something?” said Dipper, turning to his sister.  
“What’s a maraca?” Kal asked.  
“It’s like sand or something inside a hollow gourd, it makes a swooshing sound,” explained Dipper.  
“Oh, cool,” Kal grinned.  
“Either that or those little tambourines,” said Mabel, nodding.  
“We have some of those,” said Leeli. “Then the only question is whether they can keep the rhythm,” she glanced at her brothers and raised an eyebrow.  
“Can we invite other people to this?” Sara asked thoughtfully.  
“Sure!” said Mabel. “I don’t see why not.”  
Sara grinned. “Then I think we should invite my former orphans and Armulyn.”  
“Yes!” Leeli clapped her hands. “Then we’ll definitely have enough people to drown out Kal and Janner!”

Kal sighed. “The one thing we aren’t good at and we have to participate.”  
Janner shrugged. “We’ve been forced into worse situations.”

“We need to find uncle Artham and aunt Aurendelle,” said Leeli. “And mama. I bet they’ll come with us. And Fiddleford! He was excited about getting to play Christmas songs on his banjo.”  
“Then we’d better get to work!” said Mabel, springing up. “Gather everybody up at the castle around sunset and we’ll go a caroling!”

****

“Alright, Dora, ‘ere’s the deal,” Fiddleford said very seriously to his kitten. Dora gazed back at him equally seriously. “We only got three more days till Christmas t’get this done. Tomorrow’s the Christmas party so we gotta take that into account,” he sighed. “I shouldn’t’a done all that buildin’ for the Snowball War, but Kal got so excited about it an’ I can’t disappoint ‘im. Anyways, I think we kin get this done iffin we just don’t have any more distract-”

An excited knocking on his door interrupted him and a musical little voice called, “Fiddleford!”

He glanced at Dora with a raised eyebrow then quickly shoved everything present-related under his bed and covered it. “Come in!”  
Leeli shoved the door open and hopped inside, practically vibrating with excitement. Before he could ask her what was going on she blurted out, “We’re going caroling!”  
He blinked. “Aw, shucks, I plum fergot about caroling,” he said, shaking his head.  
“We’re going to leave as soon as it’s dark!” Leeli said. “Sara’s inviting her old orphans and Armulyn and uncle Artham’s going to be there and mama and aunt Aurendelle and I knew you wanted to come so I came to tell you!”

She was beaming at him with that sunshine smile. He felt his heart sink. There was no way he could say no to Leeli, and he had truly been looking forward to caroling…

But the caroling would go late enough that it wouldn’t give him much time to work on his surprises. And that meant that at some point he was going to have to pull an all-nighter to get things done.

But…

He couldn’t say no to Leeli. And, truth be told, he didn’t really want to.

He grinned genuinely at her and jumped up, ignoring the jolt of pain that shot through him with the movement. He reached out and ruffled her hair. “I’ll get my banjo ready.”  
Leeli squealed and hugged him. He hugged her back, smiling in spite of his worries.

****

Early that evening after a quick supper, the carolers assembled outside Castle Rysen. There were about twenty of them all told, and several of them had brought their own instruments. Since music was Leeli’s specialty, Kalmar had put her fully in charge of the operation. The group stood before the little Song Maiden awaiting orders.

“Alright,” said Leeli. “We’re going to work our way down to the coast!” she said. “We’ll start with the town closest to the castle and work our way from there. Since these songs are all new to me too my friend Mabel is going to be helping me lead them. You should all have the notes and song lyrics, and if you have any questions about those ask Mabel or Fiddleford, since they’re the only ones who know the songs.”

“Except Dipper, but he said he doesn’t know about any of that, so don’t ask him!” added Mabel.  
Dipper’s face flushed and he slipped behind Janner and Kalmar.

“Alright, we’ll figure out the rest as we go along!” said Leeli, grinning. “Now let’s move out!”

The group, led by Leeli, headed off along the trail leading away from the castle. When they came to the first town they all stopped and haphazardly assembled themselves.  
“Okay!” said Leeli. “We’ll walk through the town singing. Let’s start with, um,” she thought for a moment. “What’s a good song to start?”  
“Uhh,” Mabel tugged on her scarf and flipped through her book of carols. “Shoot, I didn’t think about this. Silent Night’s too slow, Carol of the Bells is too intense…”  
“How ‘bout y’start with, Joy to the World,” said Fiddleford, coming up beside them. “That’s a good one to start off.”  
“Okay!” Leeli grinned and turned to the others. “Find Joy to the World in your little booklets!”

There was a lot of muttering and page turning, but eventually everyone got to the right spot. Leeli took a deep breath and looked back to Fiddleford.  
“Can you start? You know the chords better than I do,” she said.  
He grinned at her. “Sure thing!”

He started playing, “Joy to the World” on his banjo and after a moment Leeli and Mabel joined him singing and then they heard Artham join in, and Armulyn on his whistleharp and soon everyone was singing and playing along.

It was a merry group that caroled along the streets of the town. Annierans poked their heads out of doors and walked out to see what was going on. They smiled and laughed, and many of them joined the procession, picking up the songs and singing along. The size of their group had nearly doubled by the time they left, and such a merry group were they that they continued singing as they traveled to the next town.

This trend continued as they traveled through Anniera’s little towns. For Annierans loved music dearly, and even not knowing the reason for it they were quite happy to walk through their country cheerfully singing. They sang “Hark the Herald Angels sing!” and, “Go tell it on the Mountain!” and, “Carol of the Bells” and, “Bring us some figgy pudding”, and many, many others as the night grew dark and the stars and moon shone their way.

When they came to the last town, the one by the sea, they walked through the town and came to stand on the shore of the sea. There they raised their hands and sang softly and solemnly across the Dark Sea of Darkness.

“Look!” Kal hissed, tapping Janner and Dipper’s shoulders and pointing. “The dragons!”  
Flying through the night sky were great shapes that shimmered when they caught the moonlight. The dragons danced and swooped around each other.  
“I can see them,” said Kal. “They’re beautiful.”  
“They’re singing with us,” said Janner in awe.  
Dipper looked surprised. “You can hear them?”  
“Sometimes when Leeli sings or plays music Kal gets visions and I hear what they say, even if we’re nowhere near them and Leeli can sense whatever emotions they feel,” said Janner. “It’s a gift of some kind.”  
“That’s so cool!” said Dipper, his eyes wide. “And they’re singing with us?”  
“Yeah,” Janner nodded.  
“And _dancing_ ,” added Kal.

There was a small whoosh of air and Artham flew into the sky. Their song soared up, literally and figuratively, and joined the dragons flying in the heavens.

They all stayed like that a while, singing Christmas songs and old Annieran songs. Finally the music faded, and silence descended on them. They all turned back from the sea, and the Annierans slowly made their way back to their homes.

As the Wingfeathers and their friends made their way back to the castle their group slowly diminished, until it was only them. When they arrived at the gates of the castle, Leeli took a deep breath and hopped in front of them.

“One more song,” she said, quietly. “Silent Night.”

No one gave a word of protest. This time they simply sang, without instruments, their voices lifted into the sky by the winter wind.

_“Silent Night, Holy Night,  
All is calm, all is bright,  
Round yon virgin, mother and child,  
Holy infant so tender and mild,  
Sleep in heavenly peace,  
Sleep in heavenly peace.”_

When they finished they simply stood there in the cold, shimmering snow, unwilling to let the moment end just yet.

Finally, Nia took a deep breath and broke the silence. “Come on,” she said, her voice soft. “Let’s go in.”


	14. A College Christmas Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FINALLY finished this dang chapter, 10 days late but oh well. 
> 
> This is based off of my favorite annual Christmas party in college, thrown by the Student Ministry department. I just thought it would be really funny if, during his ten years of wanderings, Stan had found his way to my old college at Christmastime and stumbled upon this. It seems like exactly the kind of thing he would love so, well, this happened. I hope you enjoy!

The night of the Christmas Party had arrived.

The Wingfeather family, along with Mabel, Dipper, Stan and Ford, had gathered in the very festive sitting room. The anonymous gifts under the tree were of all shapes and sizes and wrapped in a plethora of different ways. It was impossible to tell what they were, but Dora was making a valiant effort to find out by climbing all over them and sticking her head into the bags.

“Alright, you lot,” said Stan. “Guess I’d better tell you all how this works.”  
“That would be helpful,” said Nia, drily.  
Stan ignored her. “So first, everybody take one of these tiny pieces of paper I got Ford to rip up earlier when he wasn’t paying attention,” he produced his old fez, which was indeed full of tiny pieces of paper.  
Ford raised an eyebrow. “So this is what you needed them for.”  
Kalmar tugged on his sleeve. “Do _you_ know what’s going on?”  
“No,” said Ford. “This is not one of the adventures from his past Stan has told me about.”  
Kal sighed. “Darn.”

“Okay,” said Stan when they all had a piece of paper. “They should all have a number on them from one to fourteen.”  
“But grunkle Stan, there are only thirteen of us,” said Dipper, frowning.  
“Well I’m not doing this with thirteen people,” said Stan. “It’s an unlucky number.”  
“Aye, he’s right,” Podo nodded. “Thirteen’s not a good number to stay on.”  
“I mean, according to _The Hobbit_ , they’re right,” Kal whispered to Janner.  
“Well it’s a little too late to recruit anyone,” said Nia, raising an eyebrow.  
Stan considered this. “Well, guess there’s only one thing to do then. McGucket, get your cat and tape a number to her head or something, she’s playing too.”  
“Well she has been tryin’ to get inter the presents,” said Fiddleford, scooping Dora up from where she was batting a stray ornament. “C’mere, Dors, you get to play too.”  
“You’re lucky number 14,” Kalmar informed her. “Hopefully that means no dragons will show up.”  
Dora tilted her head and looked up, giving him a solemn little, “Mrrrow” in reply.  


“Alright, now that we’ve got that sorted out, make sure you all know your numbers. Don’t lose those. Now, the reason I like this version of gift exchange so much is because it encourages stealing,” said Stan.  
Nia looked up at him sharply. “It encourages _what_?”  
“Okay, okay, I know that _sounds_ bad,” said Stan, backtracking. “But, really, it’s fun, I promise. So what happens is each person gets to pick out a gift. We start with whoever got the paper with a one on it, who’s number one?”  
“Oh, I have it,” said Aurendelle, waving.  
“Alright, good, so we start with you,” said Stan. “Er, what’s your name again?”  
“Aurendelle,” she said, amused.  
“’Kay so we start with Aurendelle. Then we go to number two then three then four, you get the idea,” Stan waved his hand dismissively. “So here’s the fun part; when you get a gift you can either keep it or steal someone else’s. But if you wanna steal a gift you can’t open the one you picked up first, you gotta give that to whoever you steal from. Got it?”

“This _does_ sound fun,” Kal grinned.

“Alright, one more thing,” said Stan. “A gift can only be stolen twice. Whoever steals it the second time gets to keep it. Oh, and if your gift gets stolen you can steal someone else’s gift, but whoever you give the unopened gift to has to keep it, alright?”

“Got it, grunkle Stan!” said Mabel cheerfully. Leeli gave him a thumbs up.

“Alright then let’s get going,” Stan clapped his hands. “First person, er, Aurendelle, right?”  
Aurendelle grinned. “Yes.”  
“Right, go pick a gift then.”

Aurendelle looked amused. She walked up to the pile of gifts and inspected them. She selected a bag and took it back to her seat. The others waited with baited breath as she pulled out the paper and reached into the bag with exaggerated slowness.

She pulled out red and white striped sweater with a Christmas tree on the front of it and shot a glance at Mabel. “Oh look at that, what a nice sweater,” she said. “Unfortunately it’s rather too small for me, but it looks very nice and warm, dear.”  
Mabel looked pleased. “Thanks!”  
“Okay, we all know who that was from, but generally don’t say if you gave a certain gift, or if you know who gave it,” said Stan.

They all nodded solemnly, each certain they would do nothing of the sort.

“Alright, who’s number two?” called Stan.

Podo was number two and he acquired a small music note ornament (made by Leeli). Ford was number three and he ended up with a box of socks (knitted by Artham).

Leeli was four, and when she hopped up she was grinning a little. She walked over to the tree, picked out a package and walked up to Aurendelle with it. “I want Mabel’s sweater,” she announced.  
“Ooo, first steal,” said Stan, grinning. “Always the innocent looking ones.”  
Nia gave him a Look and he shut up.  
Aurendelle smiled and traded the sweater for Leeli’s package. “Well what do we have here?” she said as Leeli sat back down with the other children, already pulling the sweater on. Aurendelle ripped open the paper to discover…  
“Spoons,” she chuckled. “I’m sure those will be useful.”  
“Spoons?!” Kal dashed over to look. Mabel followed. “But why??”  
Next to Janner, Sara hid a grin.

Dipper was next and he picked an oddly wrapped package that when opened revealed a small, mechanical dragon.  
“Whoa! This is awesome!” he grinned and looked up at Fiddleford, who grinned back.  
“Oh I am so stealing that,” muttered Kal.  
“Hey, you get to see dragons any time you want!” said Dipper, holding the little dragon possessively.  
“Yeah, but they can’t fit in my pocket!” said Kal.  
“Alright, alright, quiet in the peanut gallery,” said Stan. “Who’s next?”

There was a long pause where everyone looked at each other expectantly, but no one spoke up.

“Well it’s gotta be somebody’s turn,” said Stan, frowning. “What number are we on? Six? Who’s six?”  
“Well I’m seven,” said Nia mildly. “Maybe you skipped writing down number six.”  
“No, no, I definitely wrote down fourteen numbers,” said Stan.  
“Oh!” Fiddleford smacked himself on the head. “It’s Dora!”  
Kal started laughing. “Fidds! You almost forgot our lucky number! She’s the one keeping us from catastrophe!”  
Fiddleford ducked his head, ears reddening and started looking under the couches and in piles of tissue paper. “Dora! Dora come out! Don’t think she likes all these people around.”  
“Doooraaaaa!” Leeli sang, joining the search. “Doooraaaa! Where are you?”

The children and Fiddleford spent nearly ten minutes trying to find the elusive kitten, before the tree suddenly began to sway and rattle. All at once a fluffy blur leapt out of it and landed on the floor, skidding through the wrapping paper. Dora dashed out, head high, and gave an excited, “Mrrrrrrowl!”

“Dora!” Fiddleford scooped up his kitten and set her down next to the pile of presents. “Pick somethin’, aright?”  
Dora, who had been waiting for an opportunity like this to arise all evening, obliged. She inspected the packages for a moment, then dove headfirst into a bag. After a moment she poked her head up out of it with something in her mouth. Then, faster than an arrow, she shot out of the bag, ran in a circle and sped back to it, knocking it over as she dove inside.

“What d’you got?” Fiddleford picked her up out of the bag. Dora stared back at him, holding a mouthful of colorful feathers.  
“Feathers?” Kal snorted. “Was there a pillow in there?”  
Mabel walked over and peeked into the bag. She pulled out what appeared to be a stuffed bird, except that it had three eyes and floppy ears on its head. “Uhhh, is this from the Mystery Shack?”  
“Grunkle Stan, why?” Dipper said, shaking his head.  
“Hey, don’t look at me, kid, I didn’t bring it,” Stan held up his hands. “It’s definitely from the Shack though.”  
“But if you didn’t bring it,” said Mabel. “And Dipper and I didn’t bring it, then that means,” she looked over at Ford.

Ford’s face turned bright red as everyone in the room turned to stare at him. “Look, I don’t know what to bring to parties, alright? Stan said it should be weird, so I brought one of the attractions from the Shack. There’s nothing weirder than those.”

They stared at him for a few more moments, then Fiddleford suddenly started cackling. He walked over and patted Ford’s shoulder. “Well Stanferd, Dora sure likes it, so thanks!” still laughing, Fiddleford took his kitten and her gift back to his seat.

“Alright, well, that happened,” said Stan. “Who’s next?”

Nia was next and acquired a novel from the Hollows without incident. Kalmar was after her. He walked up to the presents, grabbed the first one he saw, shoved it at Dipper and held out his hand. “I want the little dragon.”  
Dipper glared at him, but reluctantly handed it over. Dipper stared at the present Kal had handed him, then looked up at Stan. “I can steal someone else’s gift, right?”  
Stan grinned. “Yep!”  
Dipper walked over to Nia and held out the present. “Can I have the book?”  
Nia looked amused. “Of course, dear.” They traded and Dipper went back to his seat, mumbling about how at least he could have something from another world. Nia acquired a Christmas tree ornament.

“Things are heating up here, folks!” said Stan, clapping his hands. “Next person, get up here!”

“I suppose that’s me,” said Artham. He discovered another one of the books under the tree, though this one was filled with pressed flowers instead of words.  
“I wonder who could have made this,” he said, shooting Aurendelle a look. She bit her lip and hid a smile.  
“Uncle Artham did you know that was from her?” Leeli asked.  
“Of course not,” said Artham. “What would be the fun in that?”

“What indeed,” said Stan rubbing his hands together. “Alright, you lot it’s my turn. And I will take…” Stan walked over to the tree and examined the presents, then dragged out what was by far the biggest one. It was a box that easily could have fit Leeli in it, and certainly weighed more than she did. Stan pulled it to the center of the room and ripped the wrapping paper off it to reveal a metal box. He pried the lid off it only to discover…

Another box.

“Wait, hang on, I didn’t say you people could do this,” said Stan, looking around accusatorily.   
“Just open the box, Stanley,” said Ford, rolling his eyes.  
Stan grumbled and pulled the lid off the smaller box to reveal…

Another box.

He pulled the lid off that one and found…

A third box.

“I swear-” grumbled Stan.  
“Keep going!” cheered Mabel. “The suspense is killing me!”

Stan reached in and pulled out the third box, opening it to be met with a fourth. He growled at it and ripped the lid off.

Inside was a piece of paper with a note written on it.

“A card, really? There’s not even a gift card with it!” groused Stan.  
“What does it saaaaaaay?” said Mabel, leaning on the edge of the largest box and nearly falling inside in her excitement.  
Stan sighed. “It says; ‘Dear Stan, I know you will be the one to open these boxes, because that’s just the kind of person you are,’ what’s that supposed to mean?!” he glared around at the room, but kept reading. “‘The only thing in this present is this piece of paper, I hope you enjoy it. Though you could probably use the boxes for storage. You are not the only one who can play pranks, and I learned from some of the best. -N.W.’ wait, who’s N.W.?!” Stan looked around wildly. He pointed accusingly at Ford. “Did you do this?!”  
“No! For once I’m innocent!” said Ford, holding up his hands.

Artham was shaking with barely controlled laughter. Stan noticed him and glared. “Did you do this?!” he demanded.  
“No,” gasped Artham. “But I know who did,” he looked through the crowd, grinning. “Esben would be proud, Nia.”

The entire room whipped around to stare at Nia, who looked _extremely_ smug. The children and Stan gaped at her. Aurendelle and Artham nearly rolled to the floor they were laughing so hard, and Podo let out a roar of laughter and slapped his knee, shouting, “That’s m’girl!”

“You!” shouted Stan, flinging down the piece of paper and stomping up to Nia. “You did this?!”  
Nia looked up at him and _smirked_. “Indeed I did.”  
Stan stared at her a moment, then burst out laughing. “You got me, lady! Guess you ain’t so uptight after all!”  
Nia grinned. “Well, not always. But don’t get any ideas,” she added warningly.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” said Stan, grinning. “Alright, who’s next?”  
“Meeeee!” Mabel sprang up. She dashed up to the tree and stared breathlessly at the presents. After a moment she scooped one up and carried it over to Artham. “I’d like that book of flowers, please. Then every time I smell them I can remember this place.”  
Artham traded her, smiling. “That’s very sweet.”  
“And this way you get something different!” said Mabel cheerfully. She went back to her spot and started flipping through the book.

Stan sighed. “That was the nicest way to steal something I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe it was my own niece who did it.”

Artham opened the present and started chuckling. “Oh now I understand,” he said, holding up a large bright red and green sweater with the words, “Wingfeather Falalalalls!” stitched into it.  
“I thought it would be funny to combine your last name and Gravity Falls!” grinned Mabel.  
Artham nodded. “Very clever.”

“Alright, we’re in the home stretch people,” said Stan. “Next person, go.”

Fiddleford stood up nervously and looked around. He hopped over to the few presents left by the tree, picked one up quickly and hurried back to his seat. He ripped the paper off and grinned a little. “It’s a journal!” he ran his hands over the leather cover and flipped through it. “This’ll be nice for drawin’ in.”  
“Lemme see!” Kal popped up beside him and looked over his shoulder. “Oooh, it is nice!”

Janner got up before Stan could ask for the next person. He walked over to the two presents still under the tree, selected the bigger one (the second biggest of all, next to Nia’s) and carried it over to Dipper. He plopped the box down and held out his hand. “Give me the book.”  
Dipper frowned and handed it over, looking at the box uncertainly.  
Janner sat down beside him. “You can still steal something, you know.”  
Dipper’s eyes suddenly lit up and he grinned. He scrambled up and shoved the box at Kalmar. “I want my dragon back.”  
Kal stared at him. “What! Aw c’mon, Dipper.”  
Dipper set the box down and folded his arms. “Dragon. Now.”  
Kalmar gave an exaggerated sigh and handed the little dragon over. Dipper beamed and sat back down next to Janner, fiddling with it.

Kalmar inspected the box. “Well, at least it’s big,” he said, then proceeded to rip it open to reveal…

Another box.

“Oh no,” Kal groaned. “Mama, did you make _two_ of these?!”  
“No, this one’s not from me,” said Nia, but she was grinning all the same.  
Kal grumbled, but he pulled the smaller box out and opened it. Inside was another box. And inside that box was another box, and inside that box- well, you get the picture.

Four more boxes later (eight in total), Kal picked up a tiny box hardly bigger than his hand, staring balefully at it. “There had better not be a smaller box in this one,” he said. “And I hope whatever’s in here is _really good_.”  
“Hopefully it’s not an expired Starbucks gift card,” said Mabel.  
“I don’t know what that is, but it sounds bad,” agreed Kalmar. He took a deep breath. “Alright, here goes…” He pulled the string holding the lid on the tiny box.

Instantly the top flew off the box and the contents _exploded_. Brightly colored items smacked Kal in the face and landed in his hair. Everyone else laughed riotously as Kal disentangled himself from the mess.

“What is this stuff?” he asked, holding up a t-shirt with a question mark on it. “Wait a second, is this from the Mystery Shack?!”  
Mabel held up bobblehead of Stan. “Yep, it sure is.”  
Kal held up a bright yellow shirt and grinned. “Welp, I know what I’m wearing to official meetings from now on.”  
Janner snorted and Leeli started giggling. Soon everyone was laughing uproariously.

When the laughter had died down and Kal was sporting some of his new merchandise, Stan cleared his throat. “Alright, last person! And of course in this case last is best, because you can steal anything you want. Except that little dragon, it’s been stolen twice, so it’s Dipper’s now.”  
Dipper grinned.

Sara stood up and looked around thoughtfully. “There’s so much to choose from, how will I ever pick?” she asked, grinning a little. She walked slowly around the room, examining everyone’s gifts.  
“C’mon, kiddo, I know you want these nice metal boxes,” said Stan.  
“No, no, I think she wants these lovely wooden spoons,” grinned Aurendelle.  
“Or maybe some socks?” tried Ford.  
“Ford, no kid has ever wanted socks,” said Stan, rolling his eyes.  
“They are very nice socks,” said Sara, sagely. “But I can ask Artham to make them for me anytime, so they’re better off with you.”  
“Hey, Sara, what about all this cool Mystery Shack stuff?” Kal said, waving a bumper sticker in the air. “I don’t know what half of it is, but it seems pretty “lit”, as Mabel would say.”  
“Or maybe a book from the Great Library,” Janner suggested, holding the book up.  
Sara giggled and spun in a circle. “There’s just too much here to choose from,” she declared. “Which means…”

Sara walked over and picked up the last present from under the tree. It was small and tied with a ribbon. She opened it up and pulled out…  
“Oh!” she gasped. “It’s a music box!”

It was a music box. The outside had a rose on top, and the inside was covered in designs of creeping leaves and branches. Sara ran her hands over it, a delighted grin on her face.  
“Wait, who made that?” Kal demanded, looking around. His gaze landed on Fiddleford, who was trying very hard to ignore him. “Fidds! You made that too?”  
Fiddleford shrugged and gave a sheepish little grin.   
Sara dashed over and hugged him. “It’s lovely.”

“Well!” said Stan. “There you have it! A Christmas party to remember! Now lets throw this paper in the fireplace and go to sleep!”  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The present within a present within a present thing I learned from my grandpa. It is honestly hilarious to see someone's face as they open more and more boxes, trying desperately to get to the end.
> 
> If I can manage to write them, there will be two more chapters after this and then this story will (finally) be finished!


	15. Artham's intervention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is the reason I have "Fiddleford angst" written on a post-it-note in my room. I hope you enjoy. xD

It was late afternoon on the day Mabel and Dipper called, “Christmas Eve”. Artham had just finished making the last of the presents for his family. The children were running about; Kalmar and Mabel were making a game of trying to look inside the others rooms for Christmas presents, and every once and a while Artham heard yelling from the rest of the children. He smiled. It was good to see them all so happy. They deserved to be children, after everything they had been through.

All of his family seemed to have been caught up in the merriment, in fact. The adults were taking it in good humor and, indeed, genuinely enjoying themselves. He had been glad to see Nia being mischievous at the Christmas party the other night, it had been years since he had seen that side of her, and it reminded him of when they were young.

And it reminded him of Esben. His brother would have _loved_ this, Artham knew. His wings drooped a little and he sighed.

He shook himself and forced his mind to think of other things. He ought to check on Fiddleford, he hadn’t seen his friend since…

Artham frowned. He hadn’t seen Fiddleford since after lunch the day before. He’d been busy with the final Christmas preparations and hadn’t thought to check in on him.

Slightly concerned, but with a purpose again, Artham strode down the halls until he came to his friend’s room. He reached up a hand and knocked lightly, already reaching down for the doorknob-

“Wait! Hang on!” came the startled yelp from inside. Artham frowned and tilted his head. Fiddleford sounded frazzled. Artham heard things being shoved across the floor, then a muffled cry of pain and a thump.  
“Fiddleford?” he called.  
“Don’t come in! I just, ow, wait!”

There was another thump and Artham made up his mind. He opened the door and stepped inside.

He stopped short. The room was a disaster. Artham was used to Fiddleford’s room being disorganized and full of unidentifiable objects, but this was an entirely new level of chaos. The floor was covered in papers, gears, tools and half-finished gadgets. Fiddleford’s bed and blanket nest were covered in more of the same. The fireplace was unlit and it was surprisingly cold, or maybe the rest of the castle was just surprisingly warm. Diagrams were tacked to the walls and several small machines hung from the ceiling.

In the center of it all was Fiddleford, looking just as frazzled as he had sounded. He was kneeling on the floor with one hand pressed against his head. His hat was nowhere to be seen and the bit of hair he had stuck out in all directions. There were dark circles under his eyes that not even his glasses cold hide. Dora sat nearby and looked at Artham with a tired expression that seemed to say, “I don’t know what to do with him either.”

It took Fiddleford a moment to realize Artham had come inside, but when he did his eyes widened, and a panicked expression took over his face.

“Wait, no, wait, I wasn’t ready,” he said, frantically shoving things under his bed.

Artham crouched down as close as he could get to his friend. “Fiddleford, what are you doing?”  
“I’m tryin’ t’get stuff ready for Christmas!” said Fiddleford, his voice high pitched and shaky. “But everthin’ keeps commin’ up an’ I can’t say no t’any o’them kids an’ now I ain’t gonna be able t’have anythin’ ready and I-I,” he pressed his hands to his face and sobbed.  
Artham felt a pang in his heart. He pushed the clutter away from him and knelt down in front of his friend. He gently set a hand on Fiddleford’s shoulder. “Fiddleford, look at me,” he said, quietly.  
Fiddleford did, tears still running down his face.  
“You didn’t need to do anything,” said Artham, gently. “All of this was only meant to be fun.”  
Fiddleford sniffed. “But I gotta get the gifts done,” he whispered.  
“You have given us more than enough gifts over these past months,” said Artham, firmly. “You’ve made numerous improvements to the castle, and made plenty of things for the children. No one expects you to run yourself ragged like this.”  
“But yer _supposed_ t’give gifts at Christmas,” said Fiddleford, looking up at him desperately. “It’s just what everybody always does. I can’t, I can’t j-just not,” he shivered and squeezed his eyes shut.  
Artham dug a blanket out of the clutter and wrapped it around his friend. “When was the last time you slept?” he asked.  
“I-I dunno,” Fiddleford said quietly. “Couple days, m-maybe?”  
Artham sucked in a breath and shut his eyes. It hadn’t even occurred to him to worry about something like this happening. He would have to remember it for the future. “And when was the last time you’ve eaten?”  
“Er, w-well,” Fiddleford tugged the blanket closer around his shoulders and frowned. “Y-yesterday, I guess.”

Artham took a deep breath. “Fiddleford, no one in this whole castle would ever ask you to sacrifice your health for the sake of a tradition. In fact, half the reason Kalmar agreed to have Christmas in the first place was because he thought it would make you happy, since you said you hadn’t done it in a long time.”  
Fiddleford looked up quickly and winced. “W-what?”  
“Mhm,” Artham nodded. “I would have told you if I had known, if I’d thought- anyway, I’m sorry.”  
“D-don’t you b-be sorry,” said Fiddleford, rubbing his eyes. “I’m the one bein’ stupid again.”  
“You’re not being stupid, Fiddleford, you’re just trying to do more than you need to,” said Artham. “Now I think what we ought to do is go get you something to eat, then I’ll come back with you and help you get your room cleaned up. Then I think you ought to get some sleep. Alright?”

Fiddleford nodded. Artham stood, careful of everything around him as he could be. Fiddleford slowly stood, wincing.

Then he took a step forward and tumbled toward the ground with a sharp cry of pain. Artham caught him, alarm and worry making his mind and heart race.

Artham eased Fiddleford down and wrapped an arm around him. “What happened?”  
“I’m okay, I’m just- just stiff, th-that’s all,” said Fiddleford shakily.  
Artham tried to catch his eye, but Fiddleford just stared at the floor. Artham sighed. “Fiddleford, what’s wrong?”  
“I-I’m just old,” muttered Fiddleford. “It ain’t nothin’. All my aches an’ pains get a little worse in the winter, that’s all. I’m used t’it. An’ it ain’t so bad this year, at least I’m warm an’ I ain’t outside most of the time.”  
Artham took a breath and briefly closed his eyes, trying not to remember the cold winters he’d spent in Glipwood. “You could have said something,” he said, gently.   
“Didn’t wanna bother nobody,” Fiddleford said quietly. “I’m used t’it.”  
“That may be, but that doesn’t make it right,” said Artham, a little fiercely. “There’s no reason you should suffer when I’m sure we can do something to help you.”

Fiddleford curled in on himself. “Sorry,” he whispered.  
Artham hugged him, gently. “It’s alright. It’s not your fault you’re not used to people looking after you. Now come on, I’ll carry you to the kitchens and we’ll get you something to eat.”  
“Are-are y’sure?” Fiddleford looked up at him and wrung his hands together. “I don’t wanna be a bother.”

Artham chuckled and shook his head. “Fiddleford, you are never going to be a bother to me. Now come on.”

****

It was late that evening. Artham had spent the past several hours cleaning and reorganizing Fiddleford’s room. For a while, Fiddleford had sat up on his bed and tried to tell him where various things went or what pieces he should put together, but it hadn’t been long before he’d fallen asleep. Artham had gotten the fire going and covered his friend with blankets and he was confident that this was now the coziest room in the castle.

Artham walked across the now-clean floor and sat next to Fiddleford’s bed. Dora, curled up by Fiddleford’s head, looked up at him and purred. Artham smiled at her.

“We must teach you to tell us when he does things like this,” he said quietly, petting the fluffy kitten. “Maybe Leeli could find a way to explain that to you.”  
Dora seemed to smile at him and curled back up. Artham smiled back and looked to Fiddleford, curled up under his blankets. He patted his friend and curled up in his own pile of blankets on the floor.

“Goodnight, Fiddleford,” he said, softly. “Happy Christmas Eve.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was no way we were getting through this without me writing a chapter with my boys, so aerwiar. xD
> 
> Fiddleford's arthritis was inspired by my dad.
> 
> Aaaaaand Fiddleford's anxiety at trying to do everything and get everything done on time is an accurate representation of me when I'm stressed. :) Now where do I get an Artham...


	16. Dashing through the Snow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are four references to other things in this chapter. See if you can catch them.

Christmas Day had finally arrived. The Wingfeathers, along with Dipper and Mabel, gathered around the Christmas tree to give and receive presents. Their delight shone brighter than the lights strung around the room, and their laughter rang louder and brighter than bells.

There may have been some attempt at order made early in the proceedings, but it was quickly abandoned and not even Nia tried to retrieve it. Presents were passed out and the children descended upon them with a flurry of excitement. They ripped off paper and tore open boxes, exclaiming loudly about what was inside. Dora leapt about in the chaos, springing out of piles of paper in pursuit of strings and bows.

Off to the side sat Artham and Fiddleford. They watched the madness for a few minutes, then Artham shook his head. “Is it always like this?”  
“When y’got this many kids in one place it is,” Fiddleford, grinning. “Christmas day when I was a kid was always like this, ‘specially if we had family over.”  
“If my brother were here he’d be right in the middle of things with the children,” said Artham, his voice sad and amused at the same time. It didn’t take much imagination to see Esben in the throng of children, laughing as he tossed paper around and handed things around. Artham shook his head. He reached under a chair and pulled out a box wrapped in bright red paper and plunked it in Fiddleford’s lap. “This is for you, from us,” he waved his hand at the family.  
“Aw, you didn’t have to get me nothin’,” said Fiddleford, looking down. “’Specially since I didn’t get anythin’ for you all.”  
“Oh hush,” Artham shook his head. “We were going to give it to you anyway, but then this Christmas thing happened and we decided to wait. Now open it you silly old man.”  
Fiddleford glanced up at Artham, saw his grin, and grinned hesitantly back. Then he pulled the wrapping paper off the present and opened the box under it.

Fiddleford stared. “Oh. Y-y’didn’t have to.”  
He pulled out two sweaters, identical to the blue one he was currently wearing except for their colors. One was a deep indigo color and the other was sea green.   
“You can never have enough sweaters,” said Artham, sagely. “Now when one gets dirty you can just wear another.”  
Fiddleford hugged the sweaters to his chest and sniffled. “Thanks. I-I wish I’d’a managed t’get somethin’ done for you all, I feel bad not havin’ anythin’ to give anybody.”

“What are you talking about, Fiddleford?”

Janner’s voice made them both jump and they looked up at the boy, who knelt down in front of them, grinning.  
“Don’t tell me you forgot that we have the _best_ present for everyone,” Janner continued.  
Fiddleford frowned uncertainly. “We do?”  
Janner nodded. “Up in the mountains, remember?”  
Fiddleford blinked. “Oh,” suddenly his face split with a grin. “Oh! I ‘member now.”  
“Wait,” said Kal, scrambling over. “Is this that thing you’ve been doing secretly that you’ve refused to tell me about for months?”  
“Yep,” said Janner.

They now had the attention of everyone in the room. At a nod from Fiddleford, Janner sprang to his feet and addressed the room. “For those not aware, for not quite two months, Fiddleford and I- but mostly Fiddleford, and also with some help from uncle Artham- have been working on a surprise for everyone up in the mountains.”  
“So what is it?!” Kal demanded, leaning forward eagerly.  
Janner looked like he was going to burst from excitement. “A boggan.”

There was a pause, then Kal said, “Wait, those things from the Ice Prairies I never got to ride??”  
“The very same,” agreed Janner.  
“With a couple’a modifications,” said Fiddleford.  
“Oooh, Maraly told me about those,” said Sara. “They sounded terrifying, but fun too.”  
“They are,” agreed Leeli, grinning.  
“Wait, what’s a boggan?” asked Dipper, raising his hand.  
Janner looked at Fiddleford. “Do you want to explain it? I got to do the reveal.”  
“Sure!” Fiddleford stood. “Well, a boggan’s a sled that’s got a track under the snow it runs on. It can go all the way down the mountain, but I built three startin’ places ‘cause I figured it’d be too long of a ride t’go from the very top.”  
“So… they’re sleds?” said Mabel, eyes wide. “We’re gonna get to go sledding?! Down a mountain?!”  
“Well we’d better get going then,” said Kal, jumping to his feet. “To the mountains!”

****

The children had been speeding down the mountain shrieking with delight for nearly an hour when Kalmar noticed the third setting on the sled.

“What does “insanely, wildly fast” mean??” Kal asked.  
“No,” said Janner, firmly.  
“Aw c’mon Janner, you know you wanna find out,” said Kal.  
“I wanna find out!” yelled Mabel.  
“I don’t,” said Dipper. “I think we’re going fast enough as it is.”  
“But don’t you want to for _science_?” persisted Kalmar.  
“Oh no,” groaned Janner.  
“He knows our weakness,” muttered Dipper.  
Sara tightened her grip on Janner. “This’ll be interesting.”  
Leeli, behind her, giggled. “Do it, Kal.”  
“This is a bad idea,” said Janner as Kal pulled the lever down.  
“You agreed to it,” said Kal.  
“I just want it to be recorded that I said it was a bad idea. It is,” said Janner.

Kal’s hand hovered over the release switch. “Here we go!” he pulled it. “For Annieraaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

The sled shot off so fast it stole their breath away. Then there was a whirring noise from behind them. Half the children shrieked with terror and half screamed in delight as a pair of rockets appeared at the back of the boggan.

Suddenly they were no longer on the ground. They shot into the sky even as thin metal walls and a roof sprang out of the sides of the boggan around them. Open windows allowed them to see that they were soaring above the mountain in a generally straight direction.

Then the boggan began to drop. Its nose tipped down and it dove at a slight angle towards the ground. Now all the children screamed in terror as they zipped towards what was sure to be a snowy end.

****

“What is happening?!” demanded Nia, running up to Fiddleford and Artham, who stood staring at the flying boggan with their mouths slightly agape.

“I was afraid this’d happen,” said Fiddleford, as if he hadn’t heard her.  
“Is it supposed to do that?” Artham asked.  
“Well,” said Fiddleford, scratching his head. “I didn’t figure it’d leave the track. I musta made the rockets too strong.”  
“Can you stop it?!” said Nia, her voice barely avoiding becoming a shriek.  
“The brakes only work on the ground,” said Fiddleford ruefully. “But I did sorta think it through. Lookie,” he pointed at the boggan.

A parachute had burst out of the roof of the boggan, valiantly attempting to slow its momentum. As the boggan got closer to the ground it became easier to hear the shrieks of the children inside.

“Why would you make it so it could fly?!” Nia demanded, rounding on Fiddleford.  
Fiddleford shrank back a little. “Well I didn’t mean for it t’fly. An’ I figured it’d be good at the top a’the mountain goin’ to the bottom. Janner told me they got attacked by snickbuzzards on the one in the Ice Prairies, so I figured if I made it faster nothin’d be able to keep up with it,” he frowned. “’Course I guess I fergot there ain’t nobody on the island but yer people. Anyway, I’m sorry, Nia, I didn’t mean fer it t’do that.”  
Nia sighed. “It’s alright. Just maybe next time… warn me that this might happen.”

“They’re still going fairly fast,” said Artham, tilting his head. “I’m going to see if I can slow them down.” He shot into the sky towards the falling boggan.

****

There was a THUNK on the side of the boggan and several of the children screamed again. Then they saw Artham peeking through the window.

“Uncle Artham!” yelled Janner, not really sure what to say beyond that.  
“Hello children,” said Artham. “I’m going to try to slow you down, does anyone have something I can tie around the windows to pull on?”  
“Here!” Mabel handed him her grappling hook. “Shoot it and I’ll tie it around the window!”

Once the grappling hook was secure, Artham flapped madly trying to slow the crash of the boggan. Unfortunately this also yanked the strange little box to one side, causing the children to yelp and crash into one another.

“High side!” yelled Kalmar.  
The children all leaned to the side to try and level out the flying box. It sort of worked, and they were flying mostly straight again when they crashed into the snowy mountainside.

Snow exploded all around them. Inside, the children crashed into one another, squeaking and yelping.

Fiddleford skidded up to the crash, Nia right behind him. “Are y’alright?!” he called worriedly.  
“That was awesome!” came Kalmar’s muted shout. Several of the other children groaned.  
“They’re alright,” said Nia, drily.

Artham landed beside them, and between the three of them they managed to get the children out. They were all unscathed, and most were laughing and grinning.

“Mousetrap,” muttered Dipper, folding his arms. “I wanted to play mousetrap. You roll your dice you move your mice. Nobody gets hurt.”  
Mabel rolled her eyes and threw a handful of snow at him. “Cheer up, Dipper! Now we can say we survived a rocket crash!”

“Well it certainly won’t be happening again,” said Nia, firmly. “I think that is quite enough sledding for today.”  
Fiddleford winced and looked down. Kalmar saw him and frowned, then suddenly dashed up in front of Nia.  
“It was my fault, mama, I was the one who pulled the lever,” he said.  
Nia softened a little. “Well none of you were hurt, which I suppose is a testament to how well the contraption was made.”  
Fiddleford looked up and she nodded at him. He smiled a little, then ducked behind Artham.

“Alright,” said Nia. “Come on. Let’s go get ourselves some hot chocolate.”

Kalmar and Mabel looked at each other and grinned, then shouted in unison. “And Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good day!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S OVER. IT'S DONE. I FINISHED THE CHRISTMAS STORY. *crashes to the ground*
> 
> In case you're curious, the references are:  
> "The brakes only work on the ground"- Veggietales: The Star of Christmas  
> "High side!" -Jungle Jam and Friends the Radio Show  
> "I wanted to play mouse trap"- Veggietales: The Toy that Saved Christmas  
> "I pulled the lever"- The Emperor's New Groove


End file.
